Everyone will no doubt agree that 2020 has been a challenging year, and Davenport's Figge Art Museum invites guests to reflect on the long journey in 2020 Vision: You Are Here, You Are Not Alone, a new exhibition – on display through February 14 – that provides several chances for visitors to participate and contribute both in person and from home.

Beloved seasonal songs and familiar Midwestern performers will be showcased December 18 through 20 in the virtual yuletide performance Let It Show, Let It Show, Let It Show, a family-friendly celebration of the holidays hosted by Galesburg's Orpheum Theatre.

An edifice no doubt familiar to Quad Citians who routinely venture through Davenport's Hamburg Historic District, the history behind stately mansion at 1208 Main Street – and the prominent German lawyer, businessman, mayor, and art connoisseur who once lived there – will be explored in the Davenport Public Library's December 21 presentation Charles A. Ficke: The Man and His Mansion, a fascinating virtual program by Dr. William Roba.

With the holidays looming and entertainment options limited, a Quad Cities music promoter has put together a special, free streaming event featuring 11 acts and 11 businesses. With the intention of "celebrating the beautiful originality and talent of the Quad Cities music scene," The Festivus Show is a "two-day holiday extravaganza," set to run on December 26 and 27 and billed as “a fun and immersive journey.”

2020's best local release is an apocalyptic album for an apocalyptic year. Condor & Jaybird have distilled their end-time vision in a sweeping, prog-tinged psych-rock masterpiece, coating a heavy pill with pop hooks, dancing guitars, and infectious rhythms. The Glory is an aptly-named document of Condor & Jaybird's maturation as musicians and songwriters, and the closing third of a trilogy begun by The Power and The Kingdom.

Last month (issue #979), the Reader published 11 questions relative to COVID-19 for the Scott County and Rock Island County Health Departments. Both departments deferred to Scott County Medical Director Dr. Louis Katz for responses and we are pleased to share his unedited responses, along with the original questions, below. (For my responses to these answers with additional supporting documentation, see "Questioning Unreliable PCR Testing Is Hardly Trivial.")

Taking the Antoinette Perrys as our inspiration, we theatre lovers at the Reader have decided that Our Show Must Go On, too. So even though we've been given far fewer titles to choose from than usual, with our own categories and the excellent work within abbreviated out of necessity, we happily welcome you, ladies and gentlemen, to the Fifth-Annual Reader Tony Awards!

A special, holiday-themed presentation in the Davenport and Rock Island Public Libraries' World War I lecture series, the virtual program The Christmas Truce of 1914 will, on December 16, invite viewers to learn more about the inspiring event that found roughly 100,000 British and German troops involved in informal cease-fires along the Western Front.