The Davenport riverfront in the summer

By Bob Lindsey

When you think of the great river cities along the Mississippi, New Orleans, Memphis, St. Louis and even the Twin Cities come to mind.

You could put the Quad Cities on that list. Somewhat smaller than the others, it has many attractions that match the bigger cities with a combined population of 400,000 for Bettendorf and Davenport, Iowa and Rock Island and Moline/East Moline, Illinois.

With only  a 4-hour drive from St. Louis, there is enough to do in the Quad Cities for an extended weekend or longer.  We made the trek up Highway 67 from Florissant one weekend recently, when the area was celebrating the 20^th anniversary of riverboat gambling. Riverboat gaming started in this nation on April 1, 1991 on the Diamond Lady in Bettendorf and the President in Davenport.

Joe Taylor, the current president of the Quad Cities Convention & Visitors Bureau, said that day “was the busiest day in my life. At that time he was a communications director at QCCVB and handling all the national, regional  and local media covering the historic event.. Taylor said it was “a wonderful and busy time that changed tourism forever” in the Quad Cities. Since then the area grown from 31 member hotels to 52 with more than 5,000 hotel rooms. The area now has three casinos (two are non-floating riverboats)  offering packages that  are more reasonable than their big city gaming counterparts.

Rhythm City  replaced the President in 2000 on the Davenport waterfront when it was purchased by the Isle of Capri Casinos. This is the real deal nostalgic boat. Not  as large as the other two, but boast that  its  slot payoffs are the best.  It has a reasonably-priced  Hit Parade buffet and one nightclub featuring dueling pianos on the weekends. www.rhythmcitycasino.com.

The Isle of Capri has a second location in Bettendorf with Iowa’s largest hotel complex having more than 500 rooms. This is the largest casino located on the Mississippi River and has three on site restaurants including the large Calypso buffet which at $15 for dinner, lunch or breakfast is a bargain. Farradday’s Steakhouse is fine dining at its best with many specials priced around $20. Adjacent to the Isle Casino Hotel is the Quad Cities Waterfront Convention Center  that brings nostalgic and big name entertainment year-round.  The night we were there we saw the Drifters and Marvelettes show with many of the groups’ original singers.  www.theislebettendorf.com.

The third Quad Cities casino is in Illinois and not on the river at all. The totally smoke-free  Jumer’s Casino and Hotel (no smoking on casino floor or anywhere in the hotel) is  land-based, located  a few miles from the Rock Island waterfront.  This hotel is only three years old and is more Las Vegas style than the riverboats with huge open gaming floor, ballrooms,  larger hotel rooms than most, DJ’s Steakhouse, Players Buffet (also only $15) Lakeside Café, Top Hat Deli and Edje Nightclub. A good country & western group performed the night we were at Jumer’s. www.jumerscasino.com.

While gaming may have been most instrumental in putting the Quad Cities on the tourism map, the city now has many first class attractions to bring folks here.  (see accompanying story on what else to see and do and visit www.visitquadcities.com)

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