Join River Action for the 24^th Annual Fish & Fire on Thursday, April 30, as citizens, artists, policy makers, corporate leaders, entrepreneurs, environmentalists, elected officials and philanthropists from all walks of life gather to celebrate the Mississippi River and the good work being done to make it and the communities along it more resilient.

The celebration is being held at the Waterfront Convention Center, Bettendorf. Activities include social hour, silent auction, plated dinner & dessert, presentation of Eddy Awards, live auction, and fund the cause. The schedule includes:

• 5 p.m.—Social Hour & Silent Auction

Browse the auction items during social hour.

• 6:30 p.m.—Plated Dinner & Dessert: Catfish, Chicken, Vegetarian options available.
• 17^th Annual Eddy Awards

These awards recognize individuals and organizations that have gone against the current to get things done and accomplished outstanding riverfront activity or development=–well designed and environmentally responsible. Awards are presented in six categories: Art, Design, Education, Restoration, River Activity, and Lifetime Achievement.

• Live Auction and Fund a Cause, Decker Ploehn, City Administrator, City of Bettendorf, Emcee.

Melissa Mohr, executive director of the Figge Art Museum, Davenport, will receive the Eddy Award for Art, for leading the $4-million permanent exterior lighting of the Figge. Leo Villareal’s “Evanescent Field” also is nominated for an international “(d)arc” award for lighting design.

2026 Eddy Awards

• Art: Melissa Mohr, Figge Art Museum, will receive the Art award for “Evanescent Field,” aa $4 million public art installation that has transformed the downtown and riverfront with everchanging color designs. The museum gave the artist Leo Villareal a glass box; he found a Michaelangelo in it, according to the River Action release.
• Design: The City of Moline will receive the Design Award for its riverfront plan that replicates natural processes when possible allowing nature’s wisdom to bestow a higher purpose on design. After receiving a Waterfront Edge Design Guidelines designation last year, the city recently received approval of its River Edge Redevelopment Zone application.  The Riverfront+Centre Plan promotes community access, sustainability, economic development, and resilience.
• Education: The Education Award goes to The Upper Mississippi River Center. Under the direction of Dr. Michael Reisner, Augustana College, the Center has done extraordinary work since its creation in 2012.  Reisner knows how to identify potential, a skill he has used to build the Center and enter into partnerships with the City of Davenport, City of Rock Island, Rock Island County Forest Preserve, and most recently with the Milan Bottoms Task Force to assess riparian zones and water quality on 600 acres there.
• Restoration: The award goes to Jack Cullen, Executive Director of the Rock Island Downtown Alliance who has proven to be the ideal leader in this pivotal moment of making so many investments in public services and public spaces in Downtown Rock Island. With a high degree of understanding of culture and business all at the same time, he has overseen everything from pocket parks to wide-spread streetscaping.

The River Activity Eddy Award will go to Tug Fest, founded in 1987 in LeClaire and Port Byron, which will return with its annual fun festival (including several tugs of war across the Mighty Mississippi) in August.

• River Activity: The award goes to Colonel Joe Park, Garrison, Rock Island Arsenal, who saw opportunities for the Island when he arrived a little over one year ago. Since that time, he has overseen adding a new bike trail, reopened the golf course and a new golf clubhouse, made museum improvements, Quarters One renovations, and laid out plans for a water taxi dock near Quarters One.
• River Activity: Awards go to LeClaire and Port Byron, organizers of Tug Fest. This longstanding event in both communities exemplifies, in the most fun way, what “Joined by a River” can mean. With such infectious spirit in each community for Tug Fest, they excel at collaboration and end up pulling for each other!
•  Lifetime Achievement: The award will go to two powerful advocates for bikeable communities, Dean and Deb Mathias. They embody the spirit of service which our country urgently needs. With the goal to create bikeable cities, they work on bike events, blazing the Rock River and Hennepin Canal trails, advocating at DOT meetings for bike lanes on bridges, and setting up a foundation to advance bike trails. Their unstoppable nature is a coordinated strategy we would all be wise to follow.

Dean and Deb Mathias will receive the Eddy Award for Lifetime Achievement, for promoting biking on Quad Cities trails. The QC Bicycle Club is raising $25,000 to create a new sculpture in their honor at Schwiebert Riverfront Park, Rock Island.

Please plan to attend the awards ceremony and celebrate with the awardees at River Action’s Fish and Fire, April 30, at the Waterfront Convention Center, Bettendorf. Fish & Fire Tickets are $65, $55 for members, or $450 for a table of 8. Reservations are required. Buy online at www.riveraction.org/fishandfire or at River Action, 822 E. River Drive, Davenport, IA 52803. For questions, call 563-322-2969.

The Eddy Art winner also is up for an international award — Evanescent Field, the museum’s exterior installation and the largest public art project in Iowa, has been nominated for the 2025 [d]arc awards, a global program recognizing excellence in architectural lighting design. The nomination places the artwork among 28 leading works nominated from around the world (only one of two in the U.S., including at LAX) and marks a significant moment of recognition for this new landmark in Davenport. Check out the other lighting nominees on the shortlist; the winners will be named April 30.

On April 22, you can join River Action for the annual Earth Day cleanup (9 a.m. to 11 a.m.) at Indian Springs Park near the Village of East Davenport. Cleanup materials will be provided. Wear hiking pants, sturdy shoes, long sleeves, bug spray and bring your own water bottle. Meet at 2001 E. 11th Street, Davenport, and you can park in the lot west of CBI Bank in the Village of East Davenport.

River Action will hold its 24th-annual Fish & Fire celebration and benefit April 30, 2026 at Waterfront Convention Center, 2021 State St., Bettendorf.

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Jonathan Turner

Jonathan Turner -- who has called the Quad Cities home since 1995 -- has decades of experience as a professional journalist and pianist. His experience writing for daily newspapers, public radio and local TV encompasses a wide range of subjects, including the arts, politics, education, economic development, historic preservation, business, and tourism.

Jonathan most loves writing about music and the arts (which he now does as a freelancer for the River Cities Reader and Visit Quad Cities). He has a passion for accompanying musicals, singers, choirs and instrumentalists, including playing for QC Music Guild's 2023 productions of RENT and SWEENEY TODD. He is assistant music director and accompanist for the spring 2025 Music Guild show, ESCAPE TO MARGARITAVILLE. He wrote an original musical based on The Book of Job, which premiered at Playcrafters in 2010. Jonathan penned a 175-page history book about downtown Davenport, that was published by The History Press in 2016, and a travel guide about the QC published by Reedy Press in 2022.