Things to Do in Cedar Rapids This Week: July 15-19, 2026
- Kenyon Thorp
- Jul 15
- 3 min read
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A quieter week with the volume turned up in the right rooms
Cedar Rapids is not hosting RAGBRAI this year, and honestly, that gives the city a useful little opening. While the ride heads from Onawa to Dubuque, this week at home is doing something more interesting than shouting: Theatre Cedar Rapids opens Dear Evan Hansen, the Downtown Farmers Market returns after a three-week gap, and NewBo City Market’s free Friday concert series brings a real touring songwriter to its outdoor stage.
The bigger story underneath is all the construction noise. New data center plans, new wells, the Roundhouse nearly finished in Czech Village, and casino work still chewing up F and G Avenue through November. The cranes are the headline. The calendar is the counterweight.
The city is changing fast. Go stand somewhere worth remembering while it does.
Three Things We’d Actually Leave the House For
Blue Eyed Daze at The Ideal
Friday, July 17 · Doors 7 PM / show 8 PM · The Ideal Theater & Bar · $16 · All ages · Details Alyssa Schlicht is a Marion songwriter, ten minutes from home, headlining The Ideal for the first time on the strength of her new single Broken Promises and the long-carried original Lying Eyes. Cedar Rapids’ own Jake Stack opens acoustic, and The Cat Eyes fill the middle slot.
Downtown Farmers Market returns
Saturday, July 18 · 7:30 AM-Noon · Downtown Cedar Rapids · Free · Details Back after a three-week gap, this is the award-winning 200-vendor version of the market, with live entertainment stretched across downtown streets. Free street parking sits outside the market boundary.
Rock the Block: Brett Newski Duo
Friday, July 17 · 6 PM · NewBo City Market · Free · Details NewBo’s free weekly outdoor concert series usually runs on local talent, but this week lands Brett Newski, a Milwaukee songwriter currently on the road behind a new album with the Bad Inventions. No cover, no ticket, just a lawn chair and the Market Yard stage.
The Main Event
Dear Evan Hansen opens at Theatre CR. Saturday, July 18 · Theatre Cedar Rapids · $27-$60. The Tony-winner opens Friday, July 17 and runs through August 16, with added performances already on the calendar. Opening weekend is the room to be in: dressed-up audience, lobby energy, and a show about grief, mental health, loneliness, and the ache of being seen landing in a city currently negotiating what it wants to be seen as.
The Weeknight Move
George Michael Reborn. Thursday, July 16 · 7:30 PM · Paramount Theatre · $33+. The restored 1928 Paramount is exactly the room that catalog belongs in: deep red velvet, chandelier, a house designed for a singer whose whole thing was command. A Thursday-night arena-pop tribute in a movie palace built for silent films is the kind of category collision the Paramount does better than any room in town.
Plus One Thing You Might Miss...But Shouldn't Overlook
Beggars’ Bargain at The Ideal. Wednesday, July 15 · Doors 7 PM / show 8 PM · The Ideal Theater & Bar · Free show tonight · All ages. Joe Bach and Micah Spurlock trade songs like a private conversation the room gets to overhear: two guitars, two voices, no openers, first note to last. For fans of Ray LaMontagne, Amos Lee, and Donovan Frankenreiter.
Looking Ahead
Next week gets louder: Serial Killer Speakeasy lands at The Olympic July 24-25 with timed 21+ small-capacity seatings, Cypress Hill and Bone Thugs-N-Harmony hit McGrath Amphitheatre July 21, Finding Nemo heads into its final outdoor weekend at Brucemore, and The Street Food Festival 2 takes over Ellis Park July 25.
The Last Call
This is the rare summer week that rewards paying attention more than chasing a festival map. The calendar is not empty; it is edited. Pick one room. Pick one reason. Then go.
Want the room for your own night?
The Ideal and The Olympic are both available for private rentals, weddings, receptions, celebrations, corporate gatherings, and the kinds of nights that deserve a room with a little presence. Explore The Ideal · Explore The Olympic
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