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.”

Two eagerly awaited outdoor events are set to take place in downtown Davenport July 26 and 27, with the 48th Annual Street Fest energizing crowds on Friday and Saturday, and Saturday morning bringing with it the 45th Annual Quad-City Times Bix 7, the challenging summertime foot race that has captivated runners from all over the world.

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.

Described by The Huffington Post as “a heart-warming tale of human dignity and innovation,” and by the Hollywood Reporter as a work that “transcends the artist-doc format and has a broad emotional appeal,” the Oscar-nominated documentary Waste Land enjoys a special screening at Davenport's Figge Art Museum on August 1, serving as a companion event to the venue's current exhibition Vik Muniz: Hand Remade.

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.”

Cited as “Best Songwriter of 2008” by Rolling Stone and lauded as one of the millennium's premier indie-rock and Americana talents, former Bright Eyes musician Conor Oberst takes over Maquoketa's Codfish Hollow Barn stage as a Moeller Nights headliner on July 27, performing from an extensive repertoire that includes 2014's Upside Down Mountain, 2016's Ruminations, and its 2017 companion album Salutations.

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.”

Nominated for five 2001 Tony Awards and currently the ninth-longest-running Broadway musical of all time, the internationally beloved Mamma Mia! enjoys a Countryside Community Theatre and Lancer Productions staging at Eldridge's North Scott High School July 19 through 28, the show's collection of timeless tunes from the Swedish pop group ABBA leading the New York Post to call the experience “one of those nights when you sit back and let a nutty kind of joy just sweep over you.”

Described by the New York Times as “an astonishingly durable interactive murder mystery” with an “inclusive spirit of fun,” the slapstick comedy Shear Madness makes its eagerly awaited return to Rock Island's Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse July 24 through September 7, the theatre's 2016 presentation of the show inspiring the River Cities' Reader's Jeff Ashcraft to deem it “uproarious, farcical, and fabulous,” as well as “one wild and colorful ride.”

Artists from the Quad City region are, through September 2, transforming the Quad City Arts International Airport Gallery with works incorporating neon and video, along with other lighting effects, in the exhibition Electrified – a fascinating showcase boasting vintage automobile signs on loan from K.V. Dahl of Dahl Ford, as well as an interactive exhibit requiring viewers to climb onto a vintage bicycle and pedal in order to illuminate a display courtesy of Bill Wohlford and Ron Kessel.

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