A two-evening celebration of the Swedish tradition based on the legend of Saint Lucia, Queen of Light, the 2023 Lucia Nights Festival in Bishop Hill will, on December 8 and 9, deliver a seasonal treat featuring live music, a barn dance, a chili supper, a tree-lighting ceremony, carriage rides, and more.

Boasting warmth, humor, magic, and unforgettable songs including "A Spoonful of Sugar," "Chim Chim Cher-ee," "Let's Go Fly a Kite," "Step in Time," and "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious," an Oscar-winning family classic becomes a Tony-winning stage spectacular in the theatrical version of Mary Poppins, the latest production by the City Circle Theatre Company that enjoys a December 8 through 17 run at the Coralville Center for the Arts.

A beloved, longtime Augustana College Professor of Art and the college's Paul A. Anderson Chair in the Arts who is also a gifted, prolific artist in his own right, Peter T. Xiao enjoys his first solo exhibition at the Figge Art Museum in the venue's A Room That One Is In (And All Things In It), an installation of recent paintings on display through June 23.

Held in conjunction with his new exhibition A Room That One Is In (And All Things In It), beloved local artist and the Paul A. Anderson Chair in the Arts at Augustana College Peter Xiao will deliver a public artist talk at the Figge Art Museum on December 14, the night designed to celebrate Professor Xiao's very first solo exhibition of work at the Davenport venue.