Named “Best Musical of the Year” by Time magazine, Newsweek, and the Outer Critics Circle Awards, the tuneful, tap-dancing entertainment Dames at Sea serves as the season-ending production for the Mississippi Bend Players at Augustana College's Brunner Theatre Center, the show's July 26 through August 4 run demonstrating why the New York Times called it “a gem of a musical” and United Press International deemed it “an instant hit.”

Chart-toppers, multi-platinum sellers, multiple-award winners, and more are set to electrify crowds as the grandstand entertainment for the July 30 through August 4 Mississippi Valley Fair, the eagerly awaited six-day festival boasting games, competitions, vendors, and concert sets by more than two dozen national and local acts.

With New Noise magazine deeming it “a band that keeps getting better” whose members “seemingly have no problem pushing the boundaries of their unique creativeness,” the Indiana-based musicians of Murder by Death perform as Moeller Nights headliners on July 26, their concert at Maquoketa's Codfish Hollow Barn sure to prove why Americana Highways calls the group's most recent album The Other Shore “indie-rock meets Gothic-Americana at its finest.”

Music lovers wouldn't necessarily consider the styles an ideal match. But on August 1, Blues Beatles will wow Rhythm City Casino Resort visitors by instilling the songs of John, Paul, George, and Ringo will distinct blues rhythms and phrasing – a blend that had On Stage Magazine raving that the group's Brazilian musicians “seamlessly and successfully melded classic Beatles tunes with deep-down Southern blues. These reinventions of familiar Beatles music lead a listener to wonder what would have happened if the Beatles had signed with Motown through some crazy twist of fate.”