Copy: The four-day festival started in 1972 and coincides each year in late July with the Quad-City Times Bix 7 road race and Bix street festival. The festival is sponsored by the Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Society. Every year, thousands of people come to Davenport to hear Bix music played in the venues he frequented at the Col Ballroom and Starlite ballrooms. Visitors to the jazz festival get to soak in traditional jazz music performed by bands in venues around the Quad-Cities. Special events include Bix and jazz history seminars and a special jazz liturgy at Davenport First Presbyterian Church. Typically, the festival is held at LeClaire Park. In 1008, the event was moved to Modern Woodmen Stadium because of flooding damage. The festival is sponsored by the Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Society. Other events include a graveside concert at Oakdale Memorial Gardens, where Bix is buried. Visitors to the various events can expect to see lively crowds with some attired in "flapper" clothing of the 1920s and an array of classic Model A Fords. Bands from the United States and throughout the world typically perform.

History: Leon Bix Beiderbecke was born March 10, 1903, in Davenport to an upper middle class family. He died Aug. 6, 1931, in New York City. He played with the two top big bands of his era, led by Jean Goldkette and Paul Whiteman, although he never learned to read music. Alcoholism was a problem for the musician, so far ahead of his time. He wrote a number of piano compositions, including "In a Mist" and "Davenport Blues." Bix is buried at Oakdale Memorial Park in Davenport. The historic cemetery is on Eastern Avenue, across from the Annie Wittenmyer grounds.

About: Bix Weekend is the Quad-Cities' biggest party of the year, consisting of jazz concerts at various venues, the Quad-City Times Bix 7 road race and a street festival, all in Davenport. The weekend began in 1972 when a group of jazz fans who had organized the Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Society the year before hosted a jazz festival in Davenport. The society chose the last weekend in July because of its proximity to the day of Bix's death (Aug. 6). The jazz was shortly joined by a street festival with wonderful smells, sounds and tastes and in 1975 a road race called the Bix 7 fleshed out the weekend. The race is named the Bix 7 for the seven grueling miles it twists and turns through Davenport. The Times became the sponsor in 1980 and today the race typically draws about 15,000 walkers and runners. Olympians Bill Rodgers and Joan Samuelson have boosted the event's image by their presence, and lifesize statues in their honor stand in front of the Times building, along with statues of Bix and long-time Times columnist Bill Wundram. Niche races have grown up around the Bix 7, including a two-mile "Quick Bix," the Alcoa Jr. Bix for children, the Race for the Jackpot and the Brady Street Sprint.

Categories: Festivals

Locations: Davenport