With their self-titled 2021 album praised by American Songwriter for its “unabashed eloquence,” the lauded duo that composes Watchhouse – composed of married singers and instrumentalists Andrew Marlin and Emily Frantz – headline a Labor Day concert at Maquoketa's Codfish Hollow Barn, their September 5 set featuring material from Watchhouse as well as works composed when their outfit was formerly known as Mandolin Orange.

Currently touring in support of her solo studio-album debut, and well-known as the founder, lead singer/songwriter, and guitarist of the punk-rock outfits Against Me! and The Devouring Mothers, Laura Jane Grace performs a special solo concert at Davenport's Raccoon Motel on September 4, her critically acclaimed Stay Alive lauded by Guitar World as "bold and bright and beautifully bare-bones, packed with delicate acoustic twangs and tongue-in-cheek lyrical whimsy."

A Labor Day-weekend tradition once again blasts into the District of Rock Island in this year's Xtream Rock Island Grand Prix, the September 3 and 4 event in which thousands will cheer as hundreds of racing-kart drivers traverse the tree-lined streets at speeds close to 100 MPH.

Held in conjunction with the Davenport venue's fascinating exhibit Urban Exposure: The American City Seen, an opening program featuring the latest set of Curator Talks will be held at the Figge Art Museum on September 1, with curatorial department members Joshua Jackson, Vanessa Sage, and Andrew Wallace discussing why specific works were chosen and the process they went through to create the exhibition.