Original works from more than 80 juried regional and national artists, children's activities, a Tabor Wines tasting, gourmet food, live music with Whoozdads? and other area performers, and additional treats will be on hand at the September 15 and 16 Riverssance Festival of Fine Art, with MidCoast Fine Arts' 31st-annual Lindsay Park event finding Rachel Mullins Steiner this year's recipient of the esteemed Harley Award in recognition of her visionary leadership in creating an area arts culture.

A two-day celebration of a most dexterous musical instrument, the area's inaugural Shockingly Modern Saxophone Festival – taking place at Augustana College's Larson Hall September 14 and 15 – will treat lovers of the sax to master classes, workshops, discussions, and recitals, with the fest's guest artist, renowned saxophonist/composer Nick Zoulek, described by the Wall Street Journal as “stunningly virtuosic, whatever the genre.”

Touring in conjunction with the September 1 release of her sophomore album A Million Miles Away, singer/songwriter/guitarist Elizabeth Moen serves as the headliner for a Moeller Nights concert on September 15, with the Iowa native's gifts inspiring The Culture Trip to write, “Elizabeth Moen is one of those rare artists whose voice, from the first moment you hear it, consumes your entire being, doing away with all previous thoughts and concerns, and leaving you short of breath.”

Chicago-based author Chanell Ruth, the winner of this year's Great River Writers Retreat contest, will deliver a special reading at the Midwest Writing Center on September 8, sharing the talents that led Tidal Basin Review to call her recent Bottom of Midnight “difficult, necessary, and important,” and to say of the work, “It would be impossible to read … and not be moved by the pain it expresses.”