The Davenport Public Library is pleased to partner with the Hoover Museum and Presidential Library for this live webinar! Join us Thursday, March 18th at 6:00 pm for “A Woman of Achievement: Stories from the Life of Lou Henry Hoover” with historian Annette Dunlap. To register, please visit http://bit.ly/dpl-thirdthursdaymarch. In World War I, Lou Henry Hoover helped start a hospital for wounded British soldiers. She was instrumental in establishing sewing factories to employ women whose men had gone off to war. In the early 1920s, she oversaw the nearly exponential growth of the Girl... Read More

Returning with the venue’s first mainstage production since area theaters closed in November, Circa ’21 Dinner Playhouse is ready to bring audiences lots of deserved laughs and warmth in the local debut of The Church Basement Ladies in “You Smell Barn.” Running through May 15, the latest encounter with everyone’s favorite group of singing and joking Minnesotans is sure to put a smile on your face and a song in your heart. With all shows at the beloved Rock Island dinner theatre, this new musical comedy is being presented by an outstanding company of professional actors. The... Read More

Are you a fan of Mark Twain’s tales of the Mississippi? The Bettendorf Public Library is offering an inside look at the Mississippi River this month through an online edition of Community Connections: Life on the Mississippi River with John Lynn. This special, live program will take place on March 18th at 7:00 PM.  The event features the story of America’s great river; its course, character, and general river life as experienced by John Lynn, a modern-day Huck Finn, while canoeing solo down all 2,300 miles of the Mighty Mississippi. This presentation will take place via GoToMeeting.... Read More

Since national hero Chad Pregracke founded East Moline-based Living Lands & Waters in 1998, the nonprofit has worked on removing trash from 24 rivers in 21 states. With the help of more than 115,000 volunteers, it’s removed 10.5 million pounds of debris from U.S. waterways. On Thursday, March 18, Pregracke will announce formation of a major new effort in the Quad-Cities, Bison Bridge Foundation, and the 90-minute event will be livestreamed from The Rust Belt in East Moline. Starting at 6:30 p.m. March 18, tune in live at https://bisonbridge.org/live-stream, where he and his team will discuss... Read More

As part of the 50th anniversary celebration of the Macomb Beautiful Association (MBA) a 66-foot mural will be painted on the north wall of Gelsosomo’s Pizza, with an unveiling planned for June 2022. The artwork, which will be 12 feet tall, will be painted by WIU Art Professor William “Bill” Howard, who, along with other current and former art faculty and students, completed a mural on the north side of The Old Dairy in June 2019 to portray the community’s history. “The response to the mural at the Old Dairy was so positive, it seemed natural to create another,”... Read More

After more than a year dealing with Covid shutdowns, some much needed laughter may be the best medicine after all. Thirteen months after its last mainstage production, Moline’s Spotlight Theatre is opening the madcap comedy, “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) [revised]” on Friday, March 19, at 7 p.m. Performances – featuring Spotlight co-owner Brent Tubbs with Jeremy Mahr and Amelia Fischer – will be this weekend and next, with seating limited to 50 audience members at most in the 500-plus seat theater. The Spotlight, in the former Scottish Rite Cathedral at 1800 7th... Read More

After much progress under its first director, Davenport’s Hilltop Campus Village (HCV) will be in the market for a new boss, as executive director Scott Tunnicliff recently told the board of directors he will retire as of June 30. “A great deal has been accomplished since the HCV’s founding, thanks to our volunteers, our working partnerships and support from Main Street Iowa,” said Tunnicliff, who’s headed the nonprofit for 11-plus years. “There are some important projects going forward right now, but it doesn’t make sense to wait for a lull in the action to hand the reins to someone... Read More

WQPT presents a variety of outreach activities in conjunction with the new Ken Burns documentary Hemingway. Directed by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick, Hemingway examines the visionary work and turbulent life of Ernest Hemingway, one of the most influential writers America has ever produced. Interweaving his eventful biography with excerpts from his writing, we will see beyond the façade of the public image, becoming intimately familiar with this brilliant, ambitious, charismatic, and egocentric man. You can log on to https://www.pbs.org/kenburns/hemingway/events/ and join Conversations on Hemingway:... Read More

I’m not great at predicting the stock market. I can’t say I’ve been especially adept at picking lottery numbers. But I’m going to go out on a limb and say that Iowa Quad-Cities covid numbers, and probably statewide numbers as well, are going to see a rise in 10-14 days. Over the weekend, my social media feed was flooded with pictures of people at the Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds, downtown Davenport, the Village of East Davenport, and really all over, enjoying the good weather and the premature St. Patrick’s Day celebrations. What did all of those pictures have in... Read More

BREAKING NEWS: St. Ambrose University music professor Bill Campbell awoke to some great news Monday morning. The 2020 documentary for which he wrote music, “Hunger Ward,” is among five 93rd-annual Academy Award nominees for Best Documentary, Short Subject. Campbell was among the film crew that attended the 91st-annual Oscars ceremony in Los Angeles, in February 2019, when the second film in the refugee trilogy, “Lifeboat” (2018), was nominated in the same category. “The movies that are nominated for the Documentary Short are really — all of them – absolutely amazing films,”... Read More