Moline will commemorate its 150th anniversary with a week-long Sesquicentennial Celebration

Moline will commemorate its 150th anniversary with a week-long Sesquicentennial Celebration in August

It started with a mill…

In 1836, when one of the earliest European settlers to the area, David Jr. Sears arrived, the spot that was to become Moline had only three permanent buildings. With his pioneer spirit and eye to the future, Sears built a dam and several mills, driven by the power of the rolling rapids that was the Mississippi River at the time. As the mills prospered, more settlers arrived and in 1843 a town was platted by Sears and six other men. The men decided to name the town Moline, an adaptation of French meaning ‘Mill Town’ or ‘City of Mills’. In 1848, Moline was officially incorporated. That same year, a young entrepreneur named John Deere moved to Moline to take advantage of the water power and access to transportation hubs. His factories eventually grew into a multi-national corporation and forever shaped the workforce and culture of the city, as well as influenced the wider world of agriculture in a tremendous way.

150 years

This coming August, Moline will celebrate a noteworthy milestone - the 150th anniversary of its incorporation. From its humble beginnings as a modest frontier settlement to its current status as a thriving city of more than 40,000 in a metro area of around 400,000 Moline has grown and evolved over the past 15 decades. All of us can celebrate this history through a week-long Moline 150th Sesquicentennial Celebration. Residents, former residents, fans, friends, neighbors, and anyone with affection for the City of Moline are invited to recognize, commemorate and celebrate this anniversary throughout the entire sesquicentennial week, August 22-29, 2022.

Sesquicentennial Celebration

Downtown Moline will be rocking, rolling and a little bit of everything in between Thursday, Aug. 25, and Saturday, Aug. 27 with nearly 20 bands taking part in the three-day music and arts street festival. Headliners on the MidAmerican Energy main stage are Galactic featuring Anjelika Jelly Joseph, Celisse, Pokey LaFarge, Lissie, The Way Down Wanderers, and Banda Cerro Azul. The Moline 150 Sesquicentennial is presented and sponsored by John Deere. In addition to the headlining acts, the following regional bands are scheduled to appear as well: Mountain Swallower, Electric Shock, Jason Carl’s Tom Petty Tribute, Lewis Knudsen, Group Innstinto, the Forty Twos, Logan Spring & The Wonderfully Wild, Smooth Groove, Blues Rock-It, Crooked Cactus, Piso’s Cure and CJ Parker & XII.

Grupo Innstinto playing at Mercado on Fifth earlier this year. Photo by Tar Macias / Hola America

La Banda Cerro Azul will highlight the Friday Night main stage takeover by Mercado on Fifth.

Here is a little more info about the headliners:

Galactic is a New Orleans-based ensemble that plays an exciting blend of funk, pop, R&B, jazz and hip hop. They are fronted by Anjelika Jelly Joseph, a former American Idol contestant who recently toured with Grammy-nominated Tank and the Bangers. Celisse is a sing-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, performer and spoken word artist who has played with many notable musicians including Mariah Carey, Graham Nash and Melissa Etheridge. She is a founding member of Trey Anastasio’s Ghost of the Forest.

Pokey LaFarge was born in nearby Bloomington, Illinois but cut his musical teeth as an itinerant musician playing street corners, bus stops and other public spaces across the country. Now based in Los Angeles, he brings a mix of Americana, old-time country, blues, folk and Western swing to the stage. Lissie is very familiar to Quad Cities audiences. A Rock Island native, she moved to Los Angeles in her early 20s and embarked on a musical career spanning four albums and countless sold-out concerts. She now lives on a farm in Iowa, but still delights with her mix of rock and folk-pop. The Way Down Wanderers are another regional favorite, hailing from down Interstate 74 in Peoria. They play a quirky style of modern bluegrass and roots-pop.

Banda Cerro Azul will highlight the Friday Night main stage takeover by Mercado on Fifth. They are a wildly popular Chicago-based traditional Banda de Viento

A full daily schedule for the festival – including other local acts on our community stage – will be announced later in July and added to the Moline 150 website.

Forbes Ranks Ascentra #1 in Iowa on America’s Best-In-State Credit Unions List

BETTENDORF, IOWA - Ascentra Credit Union has been named Iowa’s Best-In-State Credit Union for 2022 by Forbes Magazine. Forbes, in partnership with market research firm Statista, identified America’s Best-In-State Credit Unions for 2022 based on in-depth interviews of more than 26,000 consumers who were asked to rate credit unions where they have or previously have had checking accounts. Participants made recommendations regarding overall satisfaction and assessed credit unions in the following areas: trust, terms and conditions, branch and digital services, customer service and financial advice. Ascentra is one of only three credit unions in Iowa recognized by Forbes in 2022, and is the only one based in the Quad Cities. They have nine branches serving the Quad Cities, Clinton and Muscatine areas. “At Ascentra, we take the credit union movement’s philosophy of people helping people to heart. We are always striving to find new ways to meet our members where they are. It takes forward thinking and flexibility to offer the right products, services and promotions to meet their unique needs and to help them stay financially healthy,” said Linda Andry, President and CEO, Ascentra Credit Union. “I believe that this thought process and its results are key to this rating and I am incredibly proud of our leadership and staff for their passion to serve our members!” In the Forbes report, between one and five credit unions in each state are awarded the Best-in-State designation based on the number of responses to the survey received. Overall, 171 credit unions across the country qualified. The full article and list of winners can be found at Forbes.com.

Ascentra Credit Union team members participating at the friends of MLK Juneteenth Celebration in June of this year. Photo by Tar Macias / Hola America

AROUND THE QC

The Adolph Lopez annual Memorial Golf Outing. This has become LULAC’s (Davenport) major fundraiser for their scholarship program. To date, LULAC Davenport has awarded over $650,000 to over 1,000 QC area students. Thanks to Kim Lopez and her committee for organizing this event. And to Diana Soliz and her LULAC volunteers. The food was delicious.

El torneo anual de golf conmemorando a Adolph López. Este evento se ha convertido en el principal recaudador de fondos de LULAC (Davenport) para su programa de becas. Hasta la fecha, LULAC Davenport ha otorgado más de $650,000 a más de 1,000 estudiantes del área de QC. Gracias a Kim Lopez y su comité por organizar este evento. Y a Diana Soliz y sus voluntarios de LULAC. La comida estaba deliciosa.