In 1992, downtown Rock Island hosted its very first outdoor festival with the debut of its Caribbean-themed celebration Ya Maka My Weekend. Twenty-nine years later, after an unanticipated summer off, the District's longest-running annual tradition will continue with the 2021 Ya Maka My Weekend on August 14, an eagerly awaited event boasting a marketplace, arts and crafts vendors, ethnic food of all flavors, and concert sets by five sizzling musical acts hosted by Assane Dia.

On August 3, in a live meeting of the Moline Public Library's Pageturners Book Club, acclaimed novelist Madeline Henry will appear in a special virtual author's visit to discuss her 2021 novel The Love Proof, a work that inspired noted The Lies That Bind author Emily Griffin to call the book a “captivating, heartfelt, and utterly unique tale.”

Following an unanticipated year off, the eagerly awaited six-day festival boasting games, competitions, vendors, and concert sets by more than two dozen national and local acts returns with the 2021 Mississippi Valley Fair, its August 3 through 8 engagement at Davenport's Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds boasting grandstand performances by chart-toppers, multi-platinum sellers, and multiple-award winners.

Lauded by the Sun-Sentinel as a “well-plotted, poignant, and often sweet debut” that “stirs up a lively mixture of Filipino culture, food, and family bonds,” Mia Manansala's Arsenic & Adobo was released in May to rapturous praise, and on July 27, its author will appear in a virtual presentation hosted by the Moline Public Library to discuss her career, writing process, and book debut that BuzzFeed labeled on of the most highly anticipated mystery novels of 2021.