Thousands of runners who braved the scorching heat early Saturday, July 24 for the Bix 7 race got a glimpse of the heart of the Hilltop Campus Village (HCV) in Davenport. Though they likely did not stop then for a stirring jolt of coffee or admire some of the area’s striking architecture, Scott Tunnicliff and Molly Otting Carlson certainly hope they’ll be back soon to take in all the area has to offer. Tunnicliff – an avuncular, dedicated 66-year-old economic development leader – recently retired as the first HCV director in its 12-year history. Carlson, a 52-year-old Davenport native,... 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

Melita Tunnicliff opened an e-mail sent by an old friend Wednesday at work, not exactly sure what its attached video contained. When she watched a heartfelt, personalized video from the legendary actor Dick Van Dyke, wishing her family a merry Christmas and happy 2021, she could hardly believe it. Tunnicliff screamed with joy at her desk at LeClaire Community Library. “It was a real surprise,” she said Thursday morning, Christmas Eve. “It was Dick Van Dyke in the present day because of his age. He looked up and said Scott and Melita, and I said, oh my God!” “I made everybody come over... Read More

Hannah Holman, principal cellist with the Quad City Symphony, got an early Christmas present this month – the keys to the historic Deanery at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, Davenport. She’s had a longtime dream to start a new music school, which she did online in September, and she is Executive Artistic Director of the Quad City Music Academy. Following months of negotiations between the Trinity Episcopal Cathedral’s Vestry and her academy’s Board of Directors, Holman now has a 15-year lease on the 90-year-old building and the QCMA will rename it The Deanery School of Music. “It’s so... Read More

The Black Box Theatre once again presents a 1940’s style radio play with “The 39 Steps: A Live Radio Play” by Joe Landry. The show is scheduled for August 20 to 30. Tickets on Thursdays are $13 and $16 all other performances. According to Playscripts the piece is “Inspired by Hitchcock’s classic tale and performed as a live period radio play, this romantic thriller is a fast-paced ride through the signature world of the Master of Suspense. Richard Hannay is visiting 1930s London when he meets Annabella Smith, who is on the run from foreign agents, after a disturbance at a music hall.... Read More

Listen schweetheart, if you’re looking for a play that hearkens back to the good old days of radio, you should check out Black Box Theatre’s “The Man with Bogart’s Face: A Radio Play,” opening Oct. 11. In short, a man whose identity we never know has his face altered to look like Humphrey Bogart and is involved in a Maltese Falcon-type caper. And just like the film noire 1940’s movies there are dames and heroes and villains, oh my, all played for laughs. Reviewers called it “a fast-moving story with action and staccato dialogue that literally bring Bogart to life.”... Read More

The Black Box Theatre located in downtown Moline will present the original script of Orson Welles infamous “War of the Worlds: The 1938 radio script,” by Howard E. Koch and based on the novel by H.G. Wells. The production will open October 11 and run through October 21. The Black Box Theatre cast includes James Driscoll, Matt Walsh, Scott Tunnicliff, Mark Ruebling and Michael Alexander. The production will be directed by Lora Adams with assistant director Sara J. Armstrong Kutzli, and stage manager Meredith Biechele. “The War of the Worlds” was first performed and broadcast by The Mercury... Read More