The Beaux Arts Fair will be held at its new location on the Figge plaza on Saturday, September 6, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday, September 7, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The fair features 73 exhibitors from several states working in painting, drawing, printmaking, weaving, jewelry, and crafts. Admission is free to the fair and to the Figge during that weekend. There will be a children's activities tent, and concessions will be sold. For more information, visit BeauxArtsFair.com.

I planned for an elegant dinner out last month. It was important to me that everything should be extraordinary, with nothing taken for granted - not the room, not the service, and certainly not the food. Too often, visiting a restaurant amounts to nothing more than escaping one's kitchen - a convenience rather than an experience, a meal rather than an event. But I wanted this night to be memorable.

As dismissive as many people are when it comes to blogs, what's often neglected is that they can sometimes represent genuine grassroots movements. And Minneapolis' Tapes 'n Tapes has been a major beneficiary.

Noted urban planner Jeff Speck - the co-author of Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl & the Decline of the American Dream - will be visiting Davenport through August 14 and will present his ideas for revitalizing downtown Davenport on Thursday in the Deere Auditorium of the Figge Art Museum. The one-hour presentation will begin at 6 p.m. and will be followed by a question-and-answer session and a meet-and-greet. There is no charge to attend, and the Figge galleries will be open to lecture attendees. "In Thrall of Sprawl," an article about Speck, was published in the River Cities' Reader on July 3, 2007.