Presented in celebration of one of the most influential and beloved entertainers in American history, the September 25 “Dolly Parton Day” at the Rock Island Public Library's Southwest Branch will boast a screening of 9 to 5, the star's film debut and among the most widely adored comedies of the 20th century.

An eagerly awaited autumnal tradition will get the blood pumping on September 26 and 27, as the weekend brings with it the Vibrant Arena at the MARK's Active Endeavors Health & Fitness Expo on Saturday followed by the 29th Quad Cities Marathon, presented by TBK Bank, on Sunday, the latter a Boston Marathon qualifier and the only such event in the country to incorporate five races, four cities, three bridges, two states, and one island.

Developed in collaboration with the National Museum of American Indian and Smithsonian's Museum on Main Street, the Putnam Museum & Science Center's fascinating new traveling exhibit Legacy of the Land: Treaties and the Shaping of America will be on display from September 19 through February 7, a special exhibition preview event scheduled for Friday, September 18.

On October 1, guests of Davenport's Common Chord are invited to taste-test the best the Quad Cities has to offer with the eagerly anticipated, fourth-annual QC Flavor Fest, this fundraiser for music-education programs boasting a concert with Chicago Farmer, auction items, prizes, and some of the most mouth-watering delicacies available anywhere in the Midwest.

A variety of traditional craft demonstrations, food options, vendors, hands-on children's activities, and much more will be enjoyed in Bishop Hill, Illinois, during the 2026 agriculture-days celebration Jordbruksdagarna (Swedish for “agricultural days” and pronounced "yord-brooks-DAH-ga-na"), the September 26 and 27 event that will also boast a petting zoo, a book signing, a bake sale, and Swedish music in the Village Park gazebo.

Presented in conjunction with the venue's current exhibition Everyday Lives, Extraordinary Voices: Ruth Suckow's Iowa, the latest program in the German American Heritage Center's popular "Kaffee und Kuchen" series is the readers-theater presentation of A Great Mollie, Suckow's silly yet serious work that will be performed on September 27.

Hailed by the Los Angeles Times as a work that "gives equal weight to the opposing viewpoints of two formidable characters," Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Donald Margulies' two-woman drama Collected Stories enjoys an October 1 through 11 run at Geneseo's Richmond Hill Barn Theatre, the Village Voice adding that "Margulies holds the rich ore of his material up to the light so that it sends beams in every direction."

On October 8, the Figge Art Museum will host a special Artist Talk with Amanda Burnham, who is creating a site-specific installation of her work in the Davenport venue this fall. Burnham uses acrylic on paper, and an exaggerated, often frantic comic visual language, making three-dimensional drawing installations that both allude to and frustrate traditional pictorial space.

Lauded by The Theater Mirror as "a beautiful, moving, spirited show that examines the bonds of family, community, and sisterhood," author Josefina Lopez's exuberant stage dramedy Real Women Have Curves enjoys a September 24 through October 4 run at Moline's Playcrafters Barn Theatre, this heartwarming coming-of-age saga also a story of love, family, and empowerment that became a 2002 movie hit for breakout star America Ferrera.

Presented as a special event in the Quad Cities Latino Cinema Series, and boasting a 94-percent "freshness" rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the film version of Lin-Manuel Miranda's Broadway smash In the Heights enjoys a September 15 screening at Davenport venue The Last Picture House, the review aggregator calling the movie "a joyous celebration of heritage and community fueled by dazzling direction and singalong songs."

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