To honor America’s 250th birthday this year, the Bishop Hill Heritage Association will be hosting a variety of activities that look at various aspects of early U.S. history in the 2026 Bishop Hill Civil War Day, the May 16 events including an artillery demonstration, a speech by Union General John Logan, a Civil War music concert, an evening Civil War-era Ball, and, of course, a staged battle.

Presented by Time Travelers VHS Cinema and the Latchkey Movie Club, one of the most iconic zombie films of all time, if not the most, enjoys a May 15 screening at Rock Island venue Rozz-Tox, George A. Miller's 1978 horror classic Dawn of the Dead famously hailed by Rober Ebert with a four-star review and his certainty that it was “one of the best horror films ever made.”

With the first part of presenter Richard Baldner's program, guests of Davenport's German American Heritage Center will be treated to An Introduction to Germany's Imperial Rhine on May 3, a fascinating exploration of Western Europe's second-longest river delivered as part of the venue's popular "Kaffee und Kuchen" series.

With their most recent album Foregone praised by AllMusic for its "raw, bass-heavy, crunchy sound, with their usual highly melodic lines and harmonic solos present and correct," the melodic death-metal artists of In Flames headline a May 13 concert event at East Moline venue The Rust Belt, Kerrang! adding that "Foregone is a reminder that when In Flames are at the peak of their powers, they really are untouchable."