They actually start tomorrow! I’ve been looking forward to this for a while. Great River Days is our local festival celebrating all things Muscatine. Muscatine…. where I live. Muscatine…. the only one in the US. Muscatine…. oh, never mind.

We have a number of excellent local bands performing each night. Thursday night is Ernie Peniston, a 2003 inductee into the Iowa Blues Hall of Fame who is from right here in Muscatine. Ernie has performed with some of the best in the blues world. Friday night is Spatterdash, a local rock band. For those of you who have read my blog for a while, I offered downloads of all their songs from their second CD (with the permission of the lead singer). They rock! Saturday night is Wicked Liz and the Belly Swirls, another great local band. Spatterdash and Wicked Liz have finished in the top 3 bands of the Quad Cities for the past few years, as voted by the River City Reader.

There are also a number of “competitions” and fun contests such as the Horseshoe Tournament, “Hogs for Dogs” Hot Dog Eating Contest, Hot Taco Eating Contest and the Watermelon Eating Contest. Muscatine is well-known in the midwest for having among the best watermelons and cantelope, both being called “Muscatine Melons” and fetching a higher price than melons brought in from other areas of the country. Also, there is the 5K and 10K Watermelon Stampede and an 800m and 1600M Tiny Turtle Trot for the kids. And, the CDAC Carnival out of Peoria will be set up and offering rides all day every day from Thursday through Sunday.

A great time to be had by all. If you are in the area, why not come to Great River Days?