Quad Cities Summer Events 2016

Summer of 2016 brings record high temperatures to Quad cities along with annual events. Music, art, fair, carnivals, festivals, and so on make QC the greatest place to spend the summer again! Here are my top picks for summer 2016.

  1. Rock Island County Fair – July 19 to 23: Enjoy the unlimited rides and don’t miss the fair food and the demolition derby on Friday and Little Monster trucks on Saturday! See the farm animals and feed them.
  2. MVValley Fair – Aug 2 to 7: Take the fun stands pass to enjoy the entry for five days including the grand stands! Rascal Flatts and Alabama are in the line up this year
  3. Tug Fest – Aug 11 to 13: Don’t miss the fireworks on Friday and the great tug on Saturday. Cheer for your local teams and enjoy the action! Signup your kids for the kids tug to make it more interesting
  4. River Roots Live – Aug 26 to 27: If you like loud music and street food, this is the place for you. Bring a lawn chair and enjoy the music! Visit the many stages and enjoy all kinds of music
  5. Quad city balloon festival – Sep 23 to 27: Enjoy the hot air balloon ride over the QC and fly in the colorful balloons. Donate a canned or packed food item for free entry

Do visit the Putnam museum and Figge art museum during to check out their special exhibits. Say hello to the mummy in the museum and create art at the Figge art museum. Ride the channel cat water taxi to cross the river. Ride the river cruises and dinner cruises on the famous Celebration Belle. Go to the movie in the park or the movie marathon in the theaters early shows.

If you want to venture out new adventures in the Quad cities, try out the Scuba Adventures and get certified in the live water swimming. Don’t miss the Slide the city on August 6th which is sure a fun to do and watch as well. A must visit is the Bust out live escape rooms in Bettendorf which is a perfect team building activity for family, friends, or office. the Quad city sky diving is open for season and test your luck out there as well. 🙂

Participate in the marathons, races, triatholons, RAGBRAI, and so on in 2016. Or just enjoy the river walk. Let me know what you did this summer in the Quad cities! 🙂

Putnam Museum – Fun in the Exhibits

Putnam museum is offering unique events and fun opportunities this holiday season. Visit Putnam this Thursday and Friday for a Pyjama party. Further, December 26th thru Dec 30, Putnam is hosting special events for all.

Putnam Museum

Putnam is a venue for different exhibits and shows for Quad city residents. They encourage fun and learning and is a great place for the IMAX movies.

Pyjama Party

Putnam is hosting the pyjama party this Thursday and Friday from 5pm to 10pm. Each ticket costs $10. Audience can watch Polar Express in 3D and get their flashlights ready for a total lights out experience.

Fun in the Exhibits

Putnam is arranging family friendly activities in the exhibit halls from Dec 26th to Dec 30 from 1pm to 3pm. The events are free with the museum admission $7.

  1. December 26th – Travel around the world on Map-it Monday
  2. December 27th – Explore the gadgets on Tech Tuesday
  3. December 28th – Encounter hands on science experiments on Weird Wednesday
  4. December 29th – Solve puzzles and numbers on Think tank Thursday
  5. December 30th – Visit live animals and birds on Friends of Nature Friday
Visit the museum during the special events to make most of the holidays. Get a free pass at the public library and have more fun. 🙂

Unity Fest International – 2010

One of my friend told that she was contributing to the dance festival. So, I went to the Unity Fest International at the Putnam IMAX. I was thrilled to see the perfromances along with some free goodies and a chance to see Davenport Mayor, Mr. Bill Gluba!!

Unity Fest International

Unity Fest International is a partnership between QC United and Putnam Museum. It  is a cultural festival that celebrates diverse cultures and people residing in the quad cities. This year, the event was held in the Putnam IMAX, Davenport. The performances included dances by Indians, African Americans, Phillipines, Scottish, Latin Americans, Vietnamese, Hispanics, and other international and local singers. It was amazing to see the performances that reflect international cultures and dances.


The entry was free but the organizers encouraged to bring food packets to donate to the local churches. Davenport Mayor, Mr. Bill Gluba spoke at the festival. He said that, America is of diverse origin and it appreciates the diversity and unity among the international workforce residing in the Quad Cities. He added that it is intersting to find that the local schools enrolled students in about 57 dialects.

Putnam Museum

Putnam museum contributed for this great event which included many arts and crafts for children. The children got to understand which craft originated in which country and were assissted by the volunteers to make the crafts on their own. Some of the arts and crafts included were face painting, rangoli, bead threading, paper flowers, mask painting, rock painting, and others. The children also could visit some of the local animals such as rabbits, goose, turtle, turkey and dogs. Cockroach races entertained the children as well as the adults.

Apart from the event, visitors got free entrance to some of the exhibits in the museum. Organizers say that the event is to celebrate the differences in the community and to appreciate and learn from each other.