With the concert event's list of inspiring songs including “How Great Thou Art,” “Swing Down Sweet Chariot,” “It Was Jesus,” and “I’ll Fly Away,” Peace in the Valley: A Gospel Tribute to Johnny Cash & Elvis Presley will enjoy an April 18 performance at Mt. Carroll's Timber Lake Playhouse, showcased singer Jonathan Lyons creating an evening of timeless music filled with hope, reflection, and peace.

With the show chockful of upbeat, honky-tonk hits including "Ring of Fire," "Dukes of Hazard," and "On the Road Again," the tribute talents of The Highway Men Live land at Maquoketa's Ohnward Fine Arts Center on April 18, the ensemble having performed country-music to millions of fans around the country, and emerging as perhaps the greatest country-music super-group in America.

With author Steve Yockey's work hailed by LA Weekly as a "series of haunted tales ... strung together with expert eeriness," the creepy vignettes of Very Still & Hard to See enjoy an April 23 through 26 staging at Bettendorf's Scott Community College, Stage Scene LA adding that Yockey's presentation is "the theatrical equivalent of Disneyland’s Space Mountain: i.e. equal parts excitement, terror, and glee."

With the solo show by former Iowa Poet Laureate Mary Swander described by The News' Cheryl Allen as "an artful mix of both seriousness and fun," Coop, a Story of An Amish Conscientious Objector enjoys a pair of area performances this spring, this little-known story of Mennonite men from Kalona, Iowa enjoying presentations at Davenport's German American Heritage Center on April 19 and Muscatine Community College on April 21.

Boasting unforgettable show tunes including "Everything's Coming Up Roses," "Rose's Turn," "Together (Wherever We Go)," "If Mama Was Married," and "Let Me Entertain You," the musical classic Gypsy enjoys an April 17 through 19 run at the Coralville Center for the Arts, this production of Iowa City Community Theatre featuring timeless music by Jule Styne, a trenchant book by Arthur Laurents, and wickedly smart lyrics by Stephen Sondheim.

Continuing the area's month-long celebration of Davenport as the onetime “wickedest city in America,” Davenport's Capitol Theatre will host the Wickedest City Burlesque & Variety Fest Grand Showcase on April 18, this special event featuring a performance by local winner of the Wickedest Performer: A Burlesque Competition contest held at the Adler Theatre on April 16.

The co-editor of the Pitt Poetry Series and a professor of creative writing at Sarah Lawrence College, esteemed author Jeffrey McDaniel will be the featured guest in the latest SPECTRA Reading Series event hosted by the Midwest Writing Center, his April 23 engagement at Rock Island's Rozz-Tox treating literature lovers to an evening of poetry, an open-mic event, and a community writing hour.

With the featured guest a German novelist, musician, and radio DJ currently living in pre-alpine Bavaria south of Munich, An Evening with Thomas Meinecke enjoys a special presentation at Davenport's German American Heritage Center on April 18, the author's books always fueled by music, including that of renowned Davenport musician Bix Beiderbecke.

With the in-person event held in conjunction with the monthly meeting of the Rooting Out Poverty Book Club, Augustana College graduate, former Moline teacher/coach, and Superintendent of Rock Island-Milan Public Schools Dr. Dave Markward will discuss his memoir at the Moline Public Library on April 22, From Dubuque to Selma & Beyond: My Journey to Understand Racism in America available by request through PrairieCat, Libby, or Hoopla.

On April 11, visitors to Bishop Hill, Illinois, are invited to bid adieu to winter and welcome the beginning of the tourist season in the 2026 Bishop Hill Spring Fling, with various stores, museums, and restaurants offering special discounts, events, and live entertainment.

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