Chase the Blues with Great Bix Jazz This Summer

Do you like jazz? How about the blues? Do you like to run or walk hills through grand old neighborhoods? Maybe you enjoy picnics by the river or outdoor concerts? Perhaps you’d care to gamble on a new thing? Whatever your pleasure, you will find fun each summer in Davenport, Iowa. Davenport is approximately 175 miles west of Chicago just across the Mississippi River Bridge on Interstate 80, that concrete successor to the transcontinental railroad.

June 30-July 2, 2006 the Mississippi Valley Blues Society will host the 2006 IH Mississippi Valley Blues Festival in LeClaire Park, Davenport, Iowa. LeClaire Park is a beautiful stretch of green grass that sits right up against the Mississippi River between the John O’Donnell Baseball Stadium and restored Centennial Bridge on one end and the President Casino Riverboat and Rock Island Arsenal Bridge on the other end. Two stages keep music playing continuously at both ends of the park all afternoon and evening. Refreshments include international fare. BlueSKool music lessons with free harmonicas for the kids as well as free workshops on the guitar, accordion, mandolin, and blues photography are available in the afternoons.

On July 27, 2006 the Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Jazz Festival will consume LeClaire Park. Ten of the nations leading jazz bands provide entertainment on stage at an outdoor band shell. Refreshments, recordings, and historic memorabilia will be on hand. Bix Beiderbecke was born in Davenport and caught the bug listening to the Original Dixieland Jazz Band. Bix was an ingenious cornet player, a consummate innovator. Dying at the tender age of 28 he lived a fairly privileged life being of comfortable origins and white, yet alcoholism and the driven nature of a jazz musician’s life caught him in its trap.

If you are so inclined, the Bix 7 Road Race will be held July 29th with a Junior Bix for the little ones on Friday the 28th. The Bix 7 is a seven-mile run/walk race up and down some of Davenport’s most impressive hills and past many historic homes. This race usually numbers close to 20,000 registered, so reserve your spot early. Quad City residents will line the streets to cheer for you. Roads will be barricaded to create the largest block party you have ever attended.

Davenport is one of the Quad Cities, which include Bettendorf on the Iowa side, Moline and Rock Island on the Illinois side of the mighty Mississippi River. Other interesting venues in the area include: the Rock Island Arsenal in operation since 1809, John Deere Pavilion the world’s largest agricultural exhibit (Deere headquarters and Commons are also available), Buffalo Bill Cody Museum and homestead, Village in Scott County Park a recreated turn of the century community, Black Hawk State Park home of the Sauk Indians, the largest roller dam in the world with a two parallel lock and revolving bridge still in operation, zoos, museums, theatres, over fifty hotels, and much more. You will find something for everyone in the Quad Cities. Come join us.