New rides at Modern Woodmen Park mean more donations to the Quad Cities

Baseball fans who don’t find the action at Modern Woodmen Park thrilling enough have a couple of more options.

The River Bandits cut the ribbon on two new rides Friday called the “wind up” and the “double play.”

A double-decker merry go round will open later this month. 

The team’s owner says it’s the only double-decker carousel in Iowa 

“The exciting thing for us is that we’re using these to give back to the community one way or the other,” says River Bandits General Manager Andrew Chesser.  

Chesser says every time someone rides the Ferris wheel or any of the other rides, 50 cents of every ride gets donated to the Genesis Foundation. 

On Friday, the Modern Woodmen Park was expanded.

The Wind Up and Double Play were opened to the public.

With these rides, comes more donations for the Quad Cities. 

“Actually all of the proceeds from the carousel, and the wind-up and the double play, go back to the community to help underprivileged kids,” says Chesser. 

“That’s leadership, that’s bringing the public sector, the private sector, the philanthropic sector altogether,” says Dave Heller.  

River Bandits owner Dave Heller says with the help of Davenport Mayor Frank Klipsch and the Bechtel Trust Trustee Richard Bittner, they were able to create the nonprofit, Carousel Charitable Trust.

The three new rides that are valued at $1.4 million, were purchased by the Carousel Trust. 

With a $1 million investment by the Bechtel Trusts and funding from the River Bandits. 

“So there’s no city funds going into this, this is basically something that’s been gifted to the city,” says Mayor Klipsch.  

Since the rides were donated to the city, all the funding will go to twenty different local charities that help kids in the community. 

Davenport Mayor Frank Klipsch says the rides don’t take away from the game. Instead, they encourage families to attend. 

“When you add these rides, it becomes truly a family event,” says Mayor Klipsch. “It becomes a destination point all by itself, where people come from the region to be able to be a part of what’s happening in downtown Davenport.”