For more than a decade, Rock Island's professional dance company Ballet Quad Cities has traditionally staged, for its October presentation, a one-act production of Dracula, with the titular vampire always played by popular guest artist Domingo Rubio. As Rubio is a resident of Mexico, however, his nearly annual trek to the Quad Cities was impossible in this pandemic year. But that hasn't stopped Ballet Quad Cities from delivering a different kind of Halloween treat in Dancing for Dracula & You!, a series of holiday-themed vignettes being performed at Davenport's Outing Club on October 30 and 31 (reservations due October 27) – and with Rubio himself making a virtual appearance.

Those who have always wanted to enjoy an audience with one of world history's most famous figures will soon have an entire week to do so, with the Bettendorf Public Library hosting online October 19 through 25 presentations of actor Kevin Wood in The Political Lincoln: Honest Abe on Campaigns & Elections, the latest presentation in the library's popular Virtual Community Connections series.

Hosted by Davenport's German American Heritage Center, the virtual October 18 presentation The Journey to Mollie's War: WACs & WWII will bring deserved attention to the many brave military women during World War II – an online program delivered by 2020 Illinois Humanities Road Scholar Cyndee Schaffer, whose mother Mollie serves as the event's chief inspiration.

A royal wedding, an annual tradition, and great quantities of beer will all be celebrated in a new, virtual program hosted by the German American Center, with the venue's Executive Director Kelly Lao, on October 11, speaking on Oktoberfest by the Numbers, a fun, fact-filled presentation about the history of Germany's most significant Volksfest.