13 Oct 2026

The Quad Cities Provide a Perfect Storm for MMA Fighters and Fans

By Jason Bermas
Caged Aggression MMA Fights at the River Center in Davenport, Iowa

Caged Aggression's 51st Event at the Davenport RiverCenter on October 16 and 17

The Quad Cities' combat athletes and their mentors in wrestling, boxing, karate, and mixed martial arts (MMA) have a long and storied history Yes, combat sports' art and science has been embedded in the Quad Cities for generations.

13 Oct 2026

Prynne and Proper: Courtney Lyon Stages Ballet Quad Cities' World-Premiere Take on “The Scarlet Letter,” October 23 and 24 at Moline's Spotlight Theatre

By Mike Schulz

Chatting with Ballet Quad Cities' artistic director Courtney Lyon about the professional dance company's The Scarlet Letter, a world-premiere adaptation of Nathaniel Hawthorne's famed 1850 novel, I'm catching the choreographer early in the rehearsal process. How early? I wind up learning who'll be dancing the ballet's principal roles before the dancers do.

31 Mar 2026

Bucktown's Three Wicked Ds in 1903: Ballet Quad Cities Choreographs Anita Ray's Disappointed Dreams in "Wickedest City in America: Dancing, Drinking, & Debauchery," at St. Ambrose University April 11 and 12

By Jonathan Turner

In 1903 (the year jazz legend Bix Beiderbecke was born in Davenport), the Catholic bishop of Davenport Henry Cosgrove called this Iowa city “the wickedest” in America, mainly because of its downtown Bucktown area, teeming with bars, brothels, and theaters.

10 Feb 2026

Eleven Minutes for Love: Ballet Quad Cities Presents “Romeo + Juliet: A Love Story,” February 21 and 22 at St. Ambrose University

By Mike Schulz

As Valentine's Month options go, Shakespeare's tale of thwarted love between a teenage Montague and Capulet is certainly devastatingly romantic. Those aware of its ending know it's also devastating, full stop. Yet as choreographer and Ballet Quad Cities Artistic Director Courtney Lyon understands, feeling bad about doomed love can, in this context, feel awfully darned good.

04 Dec 2025

Boundless Free Expression: A Look Inside Davenport's Burlesque-Themed Ecdysiast Arts Museum

By Jonathan Turner

When Danielle Colby and other local women strut, create character, and gradually remove items of their costumes in on-stage routines at the Ecdysiast Arts Museum, they not only bare their bodies, but their souls, personalities, dreams, and desires – and have great fun in the process.

07 Oct 2025

Mo' Poe: Ballet Quad Cities Reunites with Edgar Allan in “More Twisted Tales of Poe,” October 17 and 18 at the Spotlight Theatre

By Mike Schulz

Even in the world of dance, it's not surprising when a successful original inspires a sequel, and on October 17 and 18, a Halloween-themed one comes to Moline's Spotlight Theatre in the form of Ballet Quad Cities' More Twisted Tales of Poe.

02 Oct 2025

Quad Cities Haunt Actors Ready to Scare Up a Good, Creepy Time

By Jonathan Turner

Touring the haunted halls and dark crevices of Skellington Manor is scary enough, with its depraved permanent displays and figures. But add the colorful, creepy live performers during the haunted-house season of October 3 through November 2, and the fear factor is super-charged.

05 Sep 2025

Floatzilla 2025 Racing Results

By Todd McGreevy

On Saturday, August 16, 2025, River Action celebrated its 16th-Annual Floatzilla event with an all-day float on the Mississippi River culminating at Lake Potter in Rock Island, Illinois. For the first time ever, the float included a couple competitive races: the Dam to Dam race for kayak racers and the QC Cup for Navarro Canoe Co. canoe racers.

25 Aug 2025

"Secret Iowa" Offers Lots of Fun Spots to Visit, Including in the QC Area

By Jonathan Turner

Iowa gets unfairly maligned as “flyover country.” But the Hawkeye State also has been immortalized as “heaven” in the 1989 classic film Field of Dreams, which was shot in Dyersville. Megan Bannister is firmly in the latter camp, as the bubbly Chicago native turned willing Iowan has traversed our divine cornfields and assembled 84 quirky, fun places to stop in her 192-page paperback book Secret Iowa: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, & Obscure.

13 Aug 2025

Ballet Quad Cities' “Ballet Off the Lawn,” August 23 and 24

By Mike Schulz

“Yeah, we're Off the Lawn,” says Ballet Quad Cities Artistic Director Courtney Lyon. “We were asking ourselves, 'What are we gonna call it?' As a joke, kind of tongue-in-cheek, someone said, 'Ballet Off the Lawn'? And we were like, 'Ummm … okay!' Because it has the same feeling as the Ballet on the Lawns – it has great energy, and everything's really engaging and theatrical. It's just gonna be indoors.”

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