RAW is less than 2 months away! If you are waiting until the last minute to register, please consider doing so soon to give us better estimates and help us plan. Rooms at the Grand Harbor Resort are starting to fill up. If you are told there are no rooms available, contact Andy Allison (aallison@rivermuseum.com<mailto:aallison@rivermuseum.com>) or Marilyn Snyder (msnyder@rivermuseum.com<mailto:msnyder@rivermuseum.com>). We may be able to add more rooms to the RAW block. As a reminder, the Holiday Inn and Hotel Julien are both within a couple blocks and will be great overflow hotels if needed.
http://rawconference.org/wordpress/
Getting to Dubuque is a little more challenging than it once was since we lost our commercial air partners last year. Please find registration links below for shuttle buses between the Eastern Iowa Airport in Cedar Rapids and the Grand Harbor Resort in Dubuque. The shuttle service will be $25 each way after Travel Dubuque was kind enough to jump start things with a generous donation. Each bus holds 56 people, so make your reservation soon to ensure your spot!
Shuttle Arrival to Dubuque – http://75747.blackbaudhosting.com/75747/tickets?tab=3&txobjid=ed4b3c05-cdb6-42d0-8045-54ddca4f1ac1
Shuttle Departure from Dubuque – http://75747.blackbaudhosting.com/75747/tickets?tab=3&txobjid=2aa5a81a-f24e-4c39-b383-65b1175e1258
Shuttle buses will be clearly marked at the airport. Be sure to arrive a few minutes before your scheduled departure as the buses will leave promptly. The ride should be ~90 minutes long. Shuttles will depart at the following times.
Eastern Iowa Airport (CID), Cedar Rapids to Grand Harbor Resort, Dubuque Saturday 5/6/2023, 6:00 PM Sunday 5/7/2023, 2:00 PM & 6:00 PM Monday 5/8/2023, 11:00 AM, 4:00 PM, & 7:00 PM
Grand Harbor Resort to CID
Thursday 5/11/2023, 2:00 PM
Friday 5/12/2023, 7:00 AM, 9:00 AM, 11:00 AM, & 1:00 PM
I know this schedule of shuttle buses won’t work for all attendees. I encourage people to communicate and look for opportunities to rideshare. The RAW Facebook page should be a great starting point. If you choose to rent a car, the hotel offers free parking. Taxis, Uber, and Lyft should also be options, but sharing rides is recommended either way.
We are planning for an Icebreaker event at the National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium on the evening of Tuesday May 9. The River Museum is located just across the parking lot from the Grand Harbor Resort. We are hoping to offer another Icebreaker event across the river in Potosi, WI at the National Brewery Museum on Wednesday May 10, assuming I can get the contract finalized soon and book the shuttles.
In addition, thanks to the support of our generous sponsors, we intend to bring back the Hospitality Suite each evening of the event to foster networking and help us all recuperate after a long day of meetings.
Thank you to all the individuals who submitted abstracts to present! The RAW Program Committee is furiously reviewing those to get a formal agenda put together as soon as possible. We again have a large number of proposals and I expect another terrific batch of informative sessions.
If you haven’t already done so, consider purchasing a RAW T-shirt to commemorate your visit.
T-Shirt Link – https://75747.blackbaudhosting.com/75747/RAW-Conference-T-Shirt<https://75747.blackbaudhosting.com/75747/RAW-Conference—T-Shirt>
The Living Collections team is excited to show off our newly opened Rivers to the Sea gallery with 12 new aquarium habitats, each intended to draw connections between the Rivers of America and the oceans they drain into. While small by many of your standards, this is our biggest aquarium expansion since we opened in 2003.
We can’t wait to welcome you all to Dubuque, Where Iowa Started!
-Andy Allison