On October 18, Rock Island's Dan Vinar Furniture Company (and current Rock Island Haunted Roadhouse), will host the 2025 Quad Cities Archives Fair, allowing the public to experience Quad Cities history by visiting with regional cultural and historical organizations, learning about unique collections and services, listening to talks on historical topics, and discovering some of the area's hidden gems.

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.

Hosted by River Action and themed "“A Piece of a Larger Puzzle," the 19th-Annual Upper Mississippi River Conference will be held at Moline's Stoney Creek Inn & Convention Center on October 15 and 16, the event designed to bring together conservationists, policymakers, scientists, students, and community leaders to collaborate on holistic solutions for the Mississippi River and its watershed.

Quick-witted improvisation, audience participation, new games featuring musical direction by Bob Derkach, and loads of laughs will be enjoyed when Davenport's Adler Theatre hosts an October 22 evening with the nationally touring comedians of Whose Live Anyway? – the hilarious stage show inspired by TV's Whose Line Is It Anyway?, and a touring sensation boasting famed standup and improv comedians Ryan Stiles, Greg Proops, Joel Murray, and Jeff B. Davis.

Delivering a two-night mega-event that will also be broadcast on pay-per-view, the mixed-martial-arts spectacle Caged Aggression XL: The Big Show will take place at the Davenport RiverCenter October 17 and 18, with more than two dozen supremely talented MMA greats facing off in the nightly battles.

A journey to the back lot of an inventive theme park, where audiences will dwell in the shadow of the roller coaster and under the lights of the Ferris wheel, Cirque Mechanics' stage spectacular Tilt comes to Galesburg's Orpheum Theatre on October 23, inviting guests to meet the gifted, acrobatic carnies, characters, and operators that keep the thrills coming and the rides running.

With the virtual event taking place in the Bettendorf Public Library's Malmros Room on October 22, Quad Citians are invited to be among the first to hear from Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai about her astonishing new memoir, Finding My Way.

On October 21, Wicked fans can expect a magical virtual evening as Illinois Libraries Present and the Rock Island and Silvis Public Libraries host the film's breakout sensation in Beyond the Screen – A "Wicked" Conversation with Marissa Bode, an evening with the actor who made her feature-film debut as Nessarose in director Jon M. Chu's Academy Award-winning blockbuster.

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.

For all those students who took any opportunity to laugh at their teachers, they can now atone for it by laughing with teachers during the national tour stop of the Bored Teachers' "The Struggle Is Real!" tour, a night of standup hilarity coming to Davenport's Adler Theatre on October 11.

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