The Rock Island Armory demolition ceremony will be held on Thursday, April 9, at 2 p.m. at the 20th Street overlook (20th Street and the riverfront bike path).This is another significant step in the City of Rock Island's development of downtown's new riverfront park. The ceremony will be officiated by Mayor Mark Schwiebert. Valley Construction, the subcontractor for the Armory demolition, will swing the first wrecking ball. Souvenir postcards will be provided at the event, and the public is invited to attend. Armory history and more information will be provided at the event.

Restaurant

1. Faithful Pilot Café & Spirits

2. DJ's Steakhouse

3. Antonella's Pizzeria & Ristorante

3. Granite City Food & Brewery

3. Johnny's Italian Steakhouse

Best restaurant

Best fine dining

The Faithful Pilot Café & Spirits

It can seem tough in this town sometimes for us foodies. Sure, chains are ubiquitous anywhere you go in the country. But for the Quad Cities' secret little society of gastronomes, the ratio here seems tilted a bit too far in favor of the usual, the expected, the unsurprising - the previously frozen. I have nothing against the Applebee's of the world, really. They clearly have a market hungry for their product. But give me attention to detail, attention to nuance, and above all, attention to flavor. Mix that with a locavore consciousness, fresh, seasonal menus, and something really interesting to fill the stemware. According to the voters in this year's Best of the Quad Cities poll, the place to find all of these things is The Faithful Pilot Café & Spirits in LeClaire - which won the "best restaurant" and "best fine dining" categories and placed in the top three for seafood, desserts, and Sunday brunch. After a recent date-night visit with my girlfriend (not our first, by any means), I can attest that Reader voters know what they're talking about.

TV news station

1. KWQC-TV6

2. WQAD Channel 8

3. WHBF CBS 4

Local media personality

1. Paula Sands, KWQC-TV6

2. Jessica Tighe, KWQC-TV6

3. Pat Leuck and Dani Howe, WLLR 103.7 FM

Local TV news anchor

1. Gary Metivier, KWQC-TV6

2. Jessica Tighe, KWQC-TV6

3. Jim Mertens, WQAD Channel 8

Local TV reporter

1. Fran Riley, KWQC-TV6

2. Jessica Tighe, KWQC-TV6

3. Chris Minor, WQAD Channel 8

Best local TV reporter

Fran Riley

Raised in Boston, KWQC-TV6 reporter Fran Riley says he grew up "wanting to be a play-by-play guy" for Major League Baseball. "I realized if I wasn't going to be the next Mickey Mantle, the next best thing would be the next Curt Gowdy." Those interested in a reporting career, meanwhile, would do well to strive to be the next Fran Riley. Voted "best local TV reporter" in the Reader's poll, Riley - who joined Davenport's KWQC team in 1994, after 14 years with Rock Island's WHBF - graduated with honors from Boston's Emerson College in 1975, and has been a broadcasting success ever since: Among his accolades are a United Press International Award for "best feature sports story" and "best sports reporting in Illinois," an Associated Press citation for "best feature reporting," and, with KWQC, two awards for religion-themed stories, given by the prestigious Wilbur Foundation. "Faith, and my beliefs as a Christian, are very, very important to me," says Riley, "so it means everything to have been able to do some of these stories and be recognized for them." With daily shooting assignments for Channel 6's newscasts, there's "not a lot of time to fool around," but Riley finds the demanding job intensely rewarding. "You get opportunities to meet some absolutely fascinating people," he says, and in covering such news events as last summer's flooding, "you also see things that really cause a lot of heartache in people's lives. I'm always amazed by people's determination and resiliency, and their desire to bounce back. It's rather uplifting." As for advice for those considering their own reporting careers, Riley says, "The more you can do in terms of versatility, whether it be news, sports, operating a camera ... the more you can offer a business, the more valuable you are to them." Thank you, Mr. Riley, for being valuable to Quad Citians for 28 years and counting. For more on Riley, visit the reporter's biographical page on KWQC.com.

- Mike Schulz

The Quad City Fire Hockey Team, composed of more than 25 firefighters from local fire departments, will play at the i wireless Center on Friday, April 3, at 3 p.m. The team will host the Chicago Fire Department in the contest prior to the Quad City Flames' 7:05 p.m. game with the Chicago Wolves. From each special ticket package sold, $7 will be donated to the Robert Juarez Relief Fund. Juarez is a 20-year veteran of the Davenport Fire Department who was paralyzed in the line of duty after falling from a ladder.

The Quad Cities Comic Book Convention will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, April 4, at the Ramada Inn, 3020 Utica Ridge Road in Bettendorf. Admission is free. Dealers from three states specializing in comic books new and old, toys, and related collectibles will be on hand to buy, sell, and trade. For more information, contact Alan at (309)657-1599 or visit EpGuides.com/comics.

Young musicians from around the Quad Cities area auditioned for judges on Sunday, March 22, as they vied for the opportunity to perform with the Quad City Wind Ensemble and earn money toward music education in the 21st-annual Quad City Wind Ensemble Young Performer's Solo Competition. For more information about the Quad City Wind Ensemble, visit FreeWebs.com/quad-city-wind-ensemble.

Rivermont Collegiate will present Much Ado About Will: A Celebration of the Words of Shakespeare on Thursday, April 2, and Friday, April 3, at 7 p.m. in Becherer Hall Auditorium on the Rivermont campus. Antics from A Midsummer Night's Dream serve as bookends to this journey through Shakespeare. This production will be performed by Rivermont students in eighth through 12th grades. Tickets are $5 at the door, and the event is open to the public. Rivermont is located at 1821 Sunset Drive in Bettendorf, off 18th Street behind K&K Hardware.

TOPS (Take Off Pounds Sensibly) Club recognizes the temptation of emotional overeating and the health problems caused by it. This is particularly timely in April, Emotional Overeating Awareness Month. With support and education from TOPS, weight-loss warriors can take steps to control those emotional cravings. Visitors are welcome to attend their first TOPS meeting free of charge. To find a local chapter, visit TOPS.org or call (800)932-8677.

The novel Monster Behind the Wheel and the poetry collection Attack of the Two-Headed Poetry Monster, both written by Mark McLaughlin and Michael McCarty, are now on the final ballot for Bram Stoker Awards for works published in 2008. The Bram Stoker Awards are presented each year by the Horror Writers Association, an international group that includes hundreds of writers, editors, publishers, and members of the film industry.

The Moline Public Library invites teens and adults to the Creating Connections Volunteer Expo on Saturday, April 18. The free expo will be held in the library's meeting rooms from 2 to 4 p.m.

Residents and organizations in northwestern Illinois and southeastern and eastern Iowa received $333,697 in fraternal assistance from Modern Woodmen of America members in 2008. Modern Woodmen members in these areas are organized into 69 local chapters (called "camps") and 27 youth service clubs. In 2008, area Modern Woodmen members contributed 20,927 volunteer service hours to their communities.

The Musser Public Library in Muscatine will host the Iowa Egg Council's 2009 White House Easter Egg display throughout April. The 19 decorated eggs in this display were entered in the 2009 White House Easter Egg Decorating Contest, held during the 2008 Iowa State Fair. This contest invites Iowa artists to decorate an egg to depict a special feature, theme, icon, or location in Iowa. The winning egg is then sent to Washington, DC, to be displayed at the White House during the Easter season.

Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts can register through April 10 to attend the sixth-annual Earth Week Fair on Saturday, April 18, at the QCCA Expo Center, 2621 Fourth Avenue in Rock Island. The fair is open to scouts and the public from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Scouts can visit booths and participate in activities to work toward several environmental badges. Separate workshops will also be held for Boy Scouts and Junior Girl Scouts to earn all of the requirements for their "Geology" and "Rocks Rock" badges. To register, visit QCEarthWeek.org and click on "Earth Week Fair" and "Scout Registration."