River Action's Channel Cat Talks and Riverine Walks -- July 8 through August 2
Channel Cat Talks: Tuesday, July 8, through Thursday, July 31
Riverbend Commons Dock, 2951 East River Drive, Moline IL
Riverine Walks: Wednesday, July 9, through Saturday, August 2
Various Area Locales
Delivering a blend of local history, environmental issues, education, entertainment, and fresh air, Davenport's River Action will present a series of outdoor presentations in the second month-plus of the annual Channel Cat Talks and Riverine Walks: weekly programs that, from July 8 through August 2, will address such topics as the music of local jazz legend Bix Beiderbecke, the Hauberg Estate, the Hennepin Canal, and even the Channel Cat series itself.
Channel Cat Talk participants tour the Mississippi River aboard the Channel Cat Water Taxi, with boarding taking place at Moline's Riverbend Commons Dock. Experts will provide narration on the themed surroundings, with the Channel Cat Talks for July including: WEDG & Our Mississippi River (July 8 and 10), in which River Action's executive director Kathy Wine explores how the goal of the Waterfront Edge Design Guidelines is to create the best possible waterfront through resilience, ecology, and access; Channel Cat - Behind the Scenes (July 15 and 17), with Jennifer Hirsch and Jake Cassidy revealing what it takes to maintain the boats and prep for the season, how projects are funded, and what’s on the horizon for passenger ferryboat service in the Quad Cities; Our Unique River Landscape (July 22 and 24), which finds Augustana College's Professor Norm Moline detailing a core segment of the Mississippi in the Quad Cities: its east-west orientation, its flow characteristics, and its split into two channels around the Arsenal; and Bix & Friends (July 29 and 31), with area jazz great Josh Duffee celebrating the music of the 1920s by playing recordings and talking about the music that Bix Beiderbecke and other groups recorded during the Roaring '20s. (Be sure to sign up for both days, as the music and information will be different for each Channel Cat event.)
Riverine Walk participants explore the Quad Cities through a series of guided strolls through various area locales, with the July and early August Riverine Walks series featuring: Hauberg Estate, a Jens Jensen Landscape Restoration (July 9 and 12), in which Hauberg's executive director Deb Kuntzi and docent Molly Tiegland (on Wednesday) and Freinds of the Hauberg Civic Center Board Chair Todd Linscott (on Saturday) explain how the estate represents one of the few complete Jensen garden designs that you can visit in the U.S.; A Story of Growing Regeneratively (July 16 and 19), wherein executive director Ann McGlynn details how using cover crops, tarping, crop rotation, and other methods, Tapestry Farms seeks to build soil health while feeding the community; Histories, Personalities, and Mysteries of Davenport's Oldest Cemetery (July 23 and 26), with Kory Darnall and Coky Powers introducing participants to some of Davenport's founding citizens, delivering stories of early life (and tragedy) and symbols found in cemeteries; and Hennepin Canal & the Mississippi-Rock River Confluence (July 30 and August 2), in which guests can enjoy the beauty and stories of the Mississippi-Rock confluence and the adjacent Hennepin Canal by Milan with Augustana College's Dr. Norm Moline.
Channel Cat Talks take place on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 9 a.m. and are $20 per person, while Riverine Walks are held on Wednesdays at 6:30 p.m. and Saturdays at 9 a.m., with admission $10 per person. For more information on these “Explore the River Series” presentations, call (563)322-2969 and visit RiverAction.org.
