A creepy and beguiling stage piece drawn from author Edgar Allan Poe’s most chilling works, playwright Jeffrey Hatcher's Murder by Poe makes its debut at Moline's Playcrafters Barn Theatre from August 7 through 16, this theatrical treat hailed by the New York Times as an "eerie delight ... as if the theatre were a laboratory and we were students watching humans turn themselves into experiments."

A pair of rising country-music stars team up as co-headliners for the August 7 grandstand performance at the Mississippi Valley Fair, the night boasting sets with Tucker Wetmore, his recent "What Not To" described by Country Central as "a deeply convicted, gut-wrenching ballad," and Braxton Keith, whom Cowboys & Indiana Magazine praised for "blending classic country roots with modern swagger."

A pair of country-music superstars will wrap up the 2026 grandstand performances at the Mississippi Valley Fair, this celebratory August 9 evening granting fans an audience with two chart-topping Tennessee natives: Craig Morgan and Neal McCoy.

Touring in support of his most recent album Headcase that Americana UK said boasts "strong Southern rock that has lost none of its edge," singer/songwriter Rob Leines and his band the Filthy Heathens headline an August 9 concert at Davenport's Raccoon Motel, Saving Country Music adding that on the artist's latest, Leines "puts all of his hard-earned odometer time on the open road into work hard and play harder road stories."

Touring in support of their 2025 album Borderlands, the sibling musicians of the Talbott Brothers headline an August 8 concert at Maquoketa's Codfish Hollow Barn. In its rave review, Holler Country Music stated that Borderlands "navigates the emotional frontiers suggested by its name – where heartbreak leads to healing, grief discovers joy, sadness gives way to happiness, anger finds forgiveness, and indifference becomes love. It’s a sonic exploration of finding the courage to leave home, while always carrying a piece of it with you."

From August 13 through 15, an eagerly awaited summertime tradition returns both on and in between the LeClaire and Port Byron Levees, as the 2026 Great River Tug Fest delivers outdoor family fun with carnival attractions, live music, arts and crafts vendors, fireworks displays, and the hotly anticipated tug-of-war over the Mississippi River.

The latest event in the German American Heritage Center's popular “Kaffee und Kuchen” series, Cornbelt Camouflage Experts: The Untold Role of Iowans in Modern Camouflage will be presented on August 9, Dr. Roy Behrens delivering a richly illustrated slide talk about the little-known involvement in modern camouflage by artists, architects, stage designers, and scientists, a surprising number of whom were originally from Iowa.

It's not that the characters can't talk. They just don't, or do without our being able to hear them, and that makes many of the goings-on here silly to the point of absurdity.

Director Michael Callahan is credited as writer, but as he explained before Saturday’s opening performance, the script evolved with a workshop-style model, with the whole cast participating in the writing. That’s likely why this production is one of the funniest season-enders I’ve seen.