It's the running o' the green at the annual CASI St. Patrick's Day Races on Saturday, March 15, starting at the River Music Experience, 129 Main St. in downtown Davenport, Iowa, with a 1 mile family fun run/walk and a 5K race beginning at 9 am.
You'll be done with the run in plenty of time to see the annual Grand Parade on Saturday with floats, bands, and family clans. The parade starts at 11:30 a.m. in downtown Rock Island, Ill. The parade proceeds through Rock Island to the Centennial Bridge, and then crosses the bridge over the Mississippi River and marches into downtown Davenport, Iowa.
Immediately following the parade, a Post Parade Bash is held at the RiverCenter, 136 E. 3rd St. in downtown Davenport from 1-4:30 p.m. Entry to the Post Parade Bash is by membership, with $15 memberships available at the door. The Bash includes food, drink, and entertainment.
There is a free Kid's Craft Day at the John Deere Pavilion in downtown Moline on Saturday, March 15 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. John Deere Pavilion celebrates the American heartland from the first horse-drawn plow to the latest modern-day combines and tractors that people can climb on and sit in the cab. The whole family can enjoy interactive, hands-on computer displays.
CSI: The Experience opens March 1 at the Putnam Museum, 1717 West 12th Street in Davenport, Iowa. This traveling exhibit immerses guests in hands-on science while leading them through the challenge of solving a crime featuring guidance from the CBS show's characters. Through hands-on activities with real equipment, as well as multi-media presentations, guests will understand different science fields' role in cracking crimes. Exhibition hours are Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 12 Noon to 5 p.m.
The Figge Art Museum in Davenport, Iowa, takes you into the beautiful world of glass blowing and glass sculpture with four exhibits including: Kids Design Glass with kid's mythical monsters come to life in glass sculptures; Katja Loher: Videoplanet - Orchestra where videos are projected on suspended weather balloons and glass bubbles; Landscape, a floor-to-ceiling landscape created of glass; and Roman Glass Works showcasing the art of ancient Roman glassblowing.
The Family Museum, 2900 Learning Campus Drive in Bettendorf, Iowa, completed its final phase of its new permanent exhibit galleries. The ThinkShop is a place where families and children use real tools in a supervised setting to build one-of-a-kind inventions in a highly-interactive, hands-on space. Through the use of real building materials and recycled components, kids can bring ideas to life.
You'll feel a spring in your step as you walk through over 20,000 square feet of blooming flowers, dazzling ponds, waterfalls, and hundreds of garden-related displays by the area's landscape architects and garden designers. Attend seminars by Melinda Myers during the Flower and Garden Show at the QCCA Expo Center, 2621 4th Ave. in Rock Island, Illinois.
Even if the flowers aren't quite blooming outside, you can get a taste of spring at these Quad Cities indoor gardens. The Quad City Botanical Center's impressive 70-feet tall skylight peak in the Sun Garden conservatory offers a breathtaking tropical paradise with hundreds of jungle sized palm trees and exotic tropical plants and flowers in a year-round garden, located at 2525 4th Ave. in Rock Island, Illinois.
The Vander Veer Botanical Park is famous for its numerous floral shows and tropical plants, a tradition of over 100 years. Going on in March is the Spring Floral Show. They're located at 215 W. Central Park in Davenport, Iowa.
