Destination QC!<\/a> celebration on Nov. 13.<\/p>\nThe event, held at Rhythm City Casino Resort, marks the tourism organization\u2019s 35th anniversary and will feature national travel host Darley Newman, content creator Lily Yu, and tourism advisor Steven Pedigo. Visit Quad Cities will also present its Certified Tourism Ambassador of the Year award.<\/p>\n
The Destination Impact Award recognizes individuals whose work has led to improved quality of life, innovative progress and measurable benefits for the region. Visit Quad Cities launched the honor in 2022.<\/p>\n
Deb and Dean have spent decades pushing for safer bike routes, expanded trails and better infrastructure across the metro area. The pair, lifelong Quad Citizens and active members of the QC Bicycle Club, have helped shape major projects, including bike and pedestrian access on the new I-74 bridge, where they also advocated for the structure\u2019s see-through oculus.<\/p>\n
Their grassroots advocacy often begins with community rides, conversations with elected leaders, and hands-on trail work.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Dean provides roving bike repair during Ride the River, leads advocacy rides from Muscatine and Clinton, and participates in committees for RAGBRAI, Big Island Soil and Water, Bi-State Trails and multiple city trail groups.\u00a0<\/p>\n
His efforts have included lobbying for trail access on both the I-74 and I-80 bridges. He regularly attends council meetings, commuting by bike and logging 7,500 to 8,500 miles annually.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Deb and Dean also host Bike to Work Week breakfasts and lead rides that promote trail expansion along the Mississippi River. Their recently established Deb & Dean Mathias Endowment will support future bicycle and pedestrian projects to help ensure a more connected region for generations to come.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis year\u2019s honorees are making a difference to help further our story, our economic development efforts, and help improve our quality of life,\u201d Visit Quad Cities President and CEO Dave Herrell said. \u201cWe are humbled to be able to recognize these amazing leaders for making the Quad Cities simply a better place.\u201d<\/p>\n
Other Destination Impact Award recipients this year include Bettendorf City Administrator Decker Ploehn; Bi-State Regional Commission Executive Director Denise Bulat; and Jeff Nelson, retired CEO and managing director of MetroLINK.<\/p>\n
Valerie Kimler, operations lead at the John Deere Pavilion, will be honored as the Certified Tourism Ambassador of the Year.<\/p>\n
More information about the free event is available here<\/a>.<\/p>\nTune into The Current from 4 to 5 p.m. on weekdays to catch live interviews impacting you, your family and your hometown as well as all of the biggest headlines of the day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Deb and Dean Mathias have spent years advocating for safer bike routes, bike-pedestrian bridge access and better infrastructure.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":266392,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[49,48,635,82],"class_list":["post-266391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cycling","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=266391"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266391\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/266392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=266391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=266391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=266391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}