Lauded by the New York Times as “effortlessly endearing” and by Variety as “enormously satisfying,” The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee closes the 2026 summer season at the Clinton Area Showboat Theatre, the show's August 6 through 16 run sure to demonstrate why composer William Finn's celebrated 2005 musical comedy received two Tony Awards and enjoyed a Broadway run of 1,136 performances.

Returning to the area for its incredible 106th year, an eagerly awaited six-day festival boasting games, competitions, vendors, and concert sets by more than two dozen national and local acts returns with the 2026 Mississippi Valley Fair, its August 4 through 9 engagement at Davenport's Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds boasting, as always, grandstand performances by chart-toppers, multi-platinum sellers, and multiple-award winners.

On August 6, Figge Art Museum Co-Senior Curator Vanessa Sage will lead a special tour celebrating the creativity, strength, and influence of women in art during the Davenport venue's Music & Makers Night event Celebrating All Wonder Women, allowing guests to explore rhe works and stories that highlight remarkable women artists and inspiring subjects throughout the galleries.

Lauded by New York magazine as a show that "delivers with immense energy, a wicked sense of humor, and joyful inside-jokery," the Tony-nominated Broadway musical Mean Girls enjoys a Countryside Community Theatre staging, from July 24 through August 2, at Eldridge North Schott High School Fine Arts Auditorium, New York adding that this critically lauded smash based on the 2004 hit comedy is "hilarious, splashy, and unmistakably by Tina Fey."