Taking place in two cities, two states, and nearly 36 venues combined, the popular summertime traveling festival Alternating Currents returns to Davenport and Rock Island from August 19 through 21, a Quad Cities celebration of music, film, comedy, and visual arts boasting panel discussions, Q&A events, children's happenings, and more than 100 collective movies, comedians, and music acts.

The literary gifts of more than a dozen area teens will be both celebrated and showcased in a special outdoor event on August 19, with the Rock Island venue Rozz-Tox hosting a release and pre-order party for the Midwest Writing Center's 16th edition of literary journal THE ATLAS, an evening boasting performances of original work by 17 gifted and burgeoning talents.

Delivered as part of the Davenport Public Library's virtual 3rd Thursday at Hoover's Presidential Library & Museum programming, the August 19 Zoom webinar The Lafayette Escadrille will tell the heroic tale of how 38 Americans volunteered to fly, and pay the ultimate price, in the First World War – fighting in the skies to aid France long before our country officially entered the war.

From August 12 through 14, an eagerly awaited summertime tradition finally returns both on and in between the LeClaire and Port Byron Levees, as the 2021 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.