Held in conjunction with the annual Quad-City Times Bix 7 street race on Saturday morning, Downtown Davenport's 2026 Bix Mix Street Party will take place on July 24 and 25, this vibrant, two-day bash being held on West Third Street between Harrison and Ripley.
Returning to downtown Davenport for its incredible 52nd year, the Quad-City Times Bix 7 will again find runners and walkers taking on a seven-mile foot race alongside live bands and cheering crowds, the July 25 event famed for being the largest non-marathon race in the Midwest, having captured the imaginations of thousands upon thousands of enthusiasts from both the United States and countries around the globe.
With the Los Angeles Times praising him as "provocative, engaging, and extremely funny," Las Vegas Magazine adding that he delivers "comedy with a bang," national touring standup Shang Forbes brings his Fast & Hilarious Comedy Jam to Davenport's Adler Theatre on July 25, the artist performing locally alongside up-and-coming comedians LeClerc Andre, Joshua Black, and T Barb.
A world-class juggler and comedian who has been performing his on- man show around the globe for the last 40 years, international sensation Mark Nizer brings his 4D tour to Galesburg's Orpheum Theatre on July 25, Entertainment Magazine calling the artist "simply incredible" and "without a doubt the hottest juggler on the entertainment market."
With guests of the German American Heritage Center invited to explore the powerful stories, struggles, and triumphs that shaped the fight for equality in our community, the fascinating traveling exhibition Davenport Civil Rights Movement will be on display at the Davenport venue through July 31.
On July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was unanimously adopted by the second Continental Congress of the 13 united states, and soon after sent to King George III to serve as notice of the 13 former colonies' separation from Great Britain, including future jurisdiction and all subsequent authorities of the Crown.
The Illinois Republican Party filed its quarterly campaign finance report on the July 15 deadline. The party reported having just $223,000 in the bank. The next day, the party sent a letter to the Illinois State Board of Elections saying they were “reconciling” their records after a leadership change, and then noted that their actual end balance was $101,000 higher than it had reported the day before. But that bit of found money was basically the end of the “good news” for the GOP last week.
Chemical Trespassing on Iowa's State Tree Cannot Be Punished
Tony Singh's 20-Year Quest to Address Pesticide Damage in His Oak Savanna
In 1996, Tony Singh began rewilding a plot of land in LeClaire, hoping to restore its oak savanna, native prairie, woodlands, and wetlands. Fewer than five years later, he noticed the leaves on his oak trees were in tatters.
In our enlightened age, the public seems tirelessly bombarded with warnings of existential threat from infectious disease. Another distant outbreak is spreading, this time it could be Disease X – “…and there is no vaccine!” How, one might ask, is our species still extant?
About a week after the state budget passed both chambers in the dark of night, Attorney General Kwame Raoul spoke to the City Club of Chicago to complain that his budget was cut by $10 million.
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."
Lauded by The Mancunion as "a beautiful, sociopolitical musical that is finally getting the recognition it deserves," the Broadway-musical version of Bonnie & Clyde makes its area debut with a July 23 through August 2 run at the Clinton Area Showboat Theatre, Curtain-Up adding to the show's raves by praising the "muscular rhythmic drive beneath the show's blend of folk, blues, and gospel."
Wrapping up Genesius Guild's 2026 summer season with a freewheeling, cheekily updated Greek farce, Women's Festival (a.k.a. Thesmophoriazusae) enjoys a run in Rock Island's Lincoln Park July 25 through August 2, this Aristophanes comedy sure to deliver laughs, commentary, and, as per usual, a madcap, Mack Sennett chase around the Don Wooten Stage.
At Maquoketa's Ohnward Fine Arts Center on July 25 and 26, audiences are invited on an unforgettable journey down the Yellow Brick Road with The Wizard of Oz: Youth Edition, a delightful, one-act stage adaptation of L. Frank Baum’s beloved tale in which our plucky heroine must make friends, face her fears, and discover how good it is to go home.
Described by Variety magazine as “Disney's happiest outing since The Lion King” and by USA Today as a production of “easy infectuousness” and “youthful exuberance,” the Tony Award-winning Newsies enjoys a July 17 through 26 run at the Coralville Center for the Performing Arts, its City Circle Theatre Company presentation treating family audiences to an energetic work the Hollywood Reporter said “adheres to a time-honored Disney tradition of inspirational storytelling in the best possible sense.”
Utilizing organic beats and booms, loops, cello, and guitar to slather their intimate originals onto the crowd while inviting bodies to the dance floor, the popular rock/Americana duo Tif & Mollie headline a July 24 concert at Davenport's Redstone Room, their summer tour also a reunion tour, as both Austin-based artists are originally from the Midwest.
With their most recent album Vacationland hailed by Motif magazine as a recording that "rocks like it’s opening a portal to another dimension," guitarist/songwriter and Quad Cities native Ryan Flaherty and drummer/vocalist Erika Stahl bring their outfit Muddy Ruckus to Davenport's Raccoon Motel, their July 24 engagement treating fans to what The Sound hailed as "infectious, foot-stomping Americana tunes."
Touring in support of their forthcoming album The Last Word, planned for a September release and the musicians' first new full-length in eight years, the hard rockers and nu-metal artists on Nonpoint headline a July 25 concert at Davenport's Capitol Theatre, the band currently composed of vocalist Elias Soriano, drummer Robb Rivera, rhythm guitarist Rasheed Thomas, bassist Adam Woloszyn, and lead guitarist Jaysin Zeilstra.
With Americana Highways raving that the artist delivers "earnest, breathless vocals that are perfectly evocative and powerful," Americana musician and former Glee cast member Noah Guthrie headlines a July 26 afternoon concert at Davenport's Raccoon Motel, Red Guitar Music adding that Guthrie's 2022 release Blue Wall is "a fantastic record from a singer and songwriter with much to offer."
Touring in support of his 2025 release Refugia Blues hailed by Holler Country Music as "a raw, resolute version of American country music, stacked high with songs that go down easy but linger in the minds of those willing to invest the time," singer/songwriters Nick Shoulders headlines a July 26 concert at Maquoketa's Codfish Hollow Barn, the artist also lauded by Saving Country Music as "one of the most gifted and curious singers/yodelers/whistlers of our time."
Christopher Nolan appears seriously invested in our enjoyment, and there are many, many sequences in this grandly scaled adventure as thrilling, juicy, and ticklish as any that 2026 has thus-far produced. Those demanding fidelity to Homer are likely gonna hate it.
Going to the cineplex or staying in and streaming this weekend? Every Thursday morning at 8:15 a.m. you can listen to Mike Schulz dish on recent movie releases & talk smack about Hollywood celebs on Planet 93.9 FM with the fabulous Dave & Darren in the Morning team of Dave Levora and Darren Pitra. The morning crew previews upcoming releases, too. Or you can check the Reader Web site and listen to their latest conversation by the warm glow of your electronic device. Never miss a pithy comment from these three scintillating pundits again
Thursday, July 23: Discussion of The Odyssey, and previews of Hadestown: The Musical, Motor City, and Her Private Hell. Also reviews of a few trailers: I Play Rocky, Avengers: Doomsday, and Other Mommy, the latter of which has set the Internet on fire for understandable reason. It looks fre-e-e-eaky.
Watching romantic relationships crack and crumble can be enormous, if nerve-racking, fun – just so long as those breakdowns are viewed from the perspective of an auditorium, and not a mirror.
It's hard to think of a more ticklish recent ode to cinema than Minions & Monsters, which would've been just about perfect if its monsters were ditched entirely.
In celebration of America’s 250th birthday, Davenport's Figge Art Museum has been hosting American Art talks throughout the month of July, and on Thursday the 30th, guests are invited to enjoy Focus with Artist Beth Lipman, held in conjunction with the A Golden Age for Whom? exhibition in the Figge's Mary Waterman Gildehaus Community Gallery.
Four Chicago-based artists will present concurrent solo exhibitions across the galleries of Dubuque's Voices Studios through July 31, with the collective Quiet Intersections exhibit a multi-faceted experience that reveals how individual artistic voices can converge, diverge, and share creative space.
Telling the story of Raven, an important trickster figure in Tlingit culture who transformed the world by bringing light to people via the stars, moon, and sun, Preston Singletary: Raven and the Box of Daylight will be viewable at Davenport's Figge Art Museum through August 2, with the tale of Raven releasing or "stealing" the daylight one of the most iconic stories of the Tlingit people of Southeast Alaska.
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.
With the latest Quad City Arts Center exhibition taking on a very specific theme, and a seasonally appropriate one at that, a pair of Midwestern artists currently have beautiful works displayed in Bicycle Worlds, the Rock Island venue treating patrons, through August 7, to bike photography by Ken Urban and bike illustrations by Jeff C. Williams.
You'll get both the current official narrative challenge and What's Happenin' in the Quad Cities.
(Did you know we publish a new Real Astrology and RCR Crossword every week?)
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