JDC:  Vendors offer ice cream, cookies, chairs, remodeling tips

SILVIS – Tyler Walker was enjoying a day of watching golf Friday, July 7, at the John Deere Classic (JDC) at the TPC Deere Run golf course. But golf wasn’t the only passion on the mind of the Bensenville, Illinois, man. He was also looking for ice cream. And he found what he was looking […]

SILVIS – Tyler Walker was enjoying a day of watching golf Friday, July 7, at the John Deere Classic (JDC) at the TPC Deere Run golf course. But golf wasn’t the only passion on the mind of the Bensenville, Illinois, man. He was also looking for ice cream. And he found what he was looking for at a Whitey’s Ice Cream vendor stand near Hole 7.

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“This is the best,” the man said as he ate his Whitey’s chocolate malt and moved on to enjoy a day of golf. For thousands of JDC fans, the golf was the big attraction. But they also were looking for ice cream, drinks, hats, cookies, bundt cakes and even home decorating tips from the many vendors doing business at the Quad Cities PGA Tour event. Many of the workers at the vendors reported doing brisk business as of Friday morning as they prepared for a flood of visitors during what could be record-breaking crowds over the weekend. “It’s been pretty steady so far, but I know it’s going to get insane around here soon,” said Ashlee Bullock, who worked one of Whitey’s five ice cream booths at the JDC. “I think the chocolate malts are the best sellers, so far.” In addition, Whitey’s booths were selling cookies n’ cream shakes, a cherry ace (a cherry slush float with two dips of vanilla ice cream), a root beer ace (root beer slush float with vanilla ice cream), a chipper sandwich (two chocolate chip cookies with chocolate chip ice cream in the middle) and the John Deere Classic (lemon custard and lime sherbert in a cup). “People seem to like everything, but the chipper sandwiches and the cookies n’ cream (shakes) are the big sellers,” Eli Denton said as he served Whitey’s ice cream treats to a group of eight people near the 18th hole Friday morning. But ice cream wasn’t the only treat on the menu. Golf fans were also enjoying bundt cakes from Nothing Bundt Cakes and free cookie samples from Cookies & Dreams booths at the golf course. Thousands of people were handed a “free cookie” coupon for the Cookies & Dreams booth as they entered the course Friday morning. And many seemed to take advantage of the offer as they sampled cookies with names like classic peanut butter and sugar sprinkle. “Business has been going great. We’ve had a big crowd come through here,” said Rachel Frizzle, sales and catering manager for Cookies & Dreams. Not far from the cookies, Hallie Weaver was helping give away bundt cake samples at the Nothing Bundy Cakes vendor table. The samples included strawberries and cream, lemon, red velvet and other flavors. “We’re doing great today. … We just opened a store in Moline, so we’re also promoting the new store as we give out samples,” she added. (Nothing Bundt Cakes opened its new store this spring at 3923 41st Ave., Moline.) But not all the vendors at JDC were serving food. Some, like Seiffert Building Supplies, wanted fans at the JDC to start thinking about home improvement jobs. Company employees had displays on the course showing off new windows and a display of a remodeled kitchen. “We’re doing some branding, getting our name out there,” said Nathan Burress, president of the company, who was helping great potential new customers Friday morning. “There’s been a lot of traffic, but not many people slowing down, but that’s OK. … We want people to think about future projects.” Not too far from Seiffert’s display area, there was a new vendor at the JDC – and its goal was to make sure fans could get comfortable and take a seat while watching golf. The Mastercard chair rental booth was doing brisk business Friday as it rented chairs to golf fans. The chairs are rented for $10 a day with part of the proceeds helping the Birdies for Charity campaign. The booth has 184 chairs for rent, with 34 chairs rented on Thursday and 24 chairs rented by early Friday. Steffie Grote, who was helping with the chair rental venture, said she believes all the chairs will be rented during this busy weekend. “People tell me this is a brilliant idea; much better than bringing their own chairs to watch golf,” she said. Part of the attraction is that the chairs have straps attached to them so the chairs can be carried like a backpack from one location to another on the golf course. “You can use (the chairs) as backpacks so you are free to carry a beer or whatever in your hands. … I had one guy here yesterday who had his own chair and it broke. He said ‘What  a great place for my chair to break – right in front of a place that rents chairs,’” Ms. Grote added. But not all the vendors at the JDC are from the business world.  Liz Gougeon, director development at Western Illinois University (WIU), also had a display at the golf tournament. One of her goals was to tell people about the many programs offered at the school’s Moline campus. On Friday, her WIU table was filled with many free items, such as pens, stickers, spoons with the WIU logo as well as information booklets on WIU educational programs. But many of the golf fans were attracted to the free John Deere koozies that were on the table. “They like the koozies. There’s been a lot of people coming through. … I’ve had people stop by and say ‘My son went to WIU,’” Ms. Gougeon added. “Then they head out to watch golf.”