2023 Great River Tug Fest at the LeClaire and Port Byron Levees -- August 10 through 12.
Thursday, August 10, through Saturday, August 12
LeClaire IA and Port Byron IL Levees
From August 10 through 12, an eagerly awaited summertime tradition returns both on and in between the LeClaire and Port Byron Levees, as the 2023 Great River Tug Fest delivers outdoor family fun with carnival attractions, live music, arts and crafts vendors, fireworks displays, and the hotly anticipated tug-of-war over the Mississippi River.
The Great River Tug Fest began in 1987, with 10 tug teams of 20 participants each pulling with all of their strength on a 2,700-foot, 680-pound rope that spanned the Mississippi between LeClaire, Iowa, and Port Byron, Illinois. Each year since, teams have competed to see which state will claim the festival's alabaster statue of a bald eagle in flight, and on an annual basis, as many as 35,000 people have come to the levees to view the only tug-of-war held across the longest river in the United States. This local tradition has been featured in numerous travel and vacation magazines, as well as on several television programs, including The Montel Williams Show and the Discovery Channel's Wreakreation Nation.
In addition to the bi-state tug-of-war itself – scheduled to take place between noon and 3 p.m. on Saturday, August 12 – the Great River Tug Fest will feature a kids' tug-of-war at 11 a.m. on Saturday, as well as carnivals at both the LeClaire and Port Byron levees complete with rides, games, food and beverage vendors, and children's activities. In LeClaire, the live-music performances include sets with Ky & Ty & the Other Guy (7 p.m. Thursday), Hap Hazard and Lynn Allen (7:30 p.m. Friday), Got Your Six (4 p.m. Saturday), and Electric Shock: The AC/DC Tribute (8 p.m. Saturday). Port Byron's live music features concerts with Mo's Garage (7:30 p.m. Friday), Rolling Thunder (8:30 and 10 p.m. Friday), Monica Austin (7:30 p.m. Saturday), and Michael Moncada & Whiskey High (10 p.m. Saturday). Both levees will also boast additional events and attractions, with LeClaire hosting bingo games, a bags tournaments, a 5K run/walk, and a community breakfast, and Port Byron featuring the fireman's pancake breakfast, an arm-wrestling tournament, kids pedal tractor pulls, and the annual Prince & Princess Pageant. Fireworks, meanwhile, will be set off and viewable from both Tug Fest locales at 9:30 p.m. on Friday evening.
For more information on the August 10 through 12 Great River Tug Fest events in LeClaire, visit TugFest.com, and for the Port Byron happenings, visit TugFest.org.
