2025 Great River Tug Fest at the LeClaire and Port Byron Levees -- August 7 through 9.
Thursday, August 7, through Saturday, August 9
LeClaire and Port Byron Levees
From August 7 through 9, an eagerly awaited summertime tradition returns both on and in between the LeClaire and Port Byron Levees, as the 2025 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 9 – the 2025 Great River Tug Fest will feature carnivals at both the LeClaire and Port Byron levees complete with rides, games, food and beverage vendors, and children's activities including "Kids Tug" events. In LeClaire, the live-music performances include sets with Press Record (Thursday at 7 p.m.), Dirt Road Rockers (Friday at 8 p.m.), Impossible Wonder (Saturday at 6 p.m.), 7 Ark (Saturday at 6:40 p.m.), and Big Hair Mafia (Saturday at 9 p.m.). Port Byron's live music features concerts with Eva Kendall (Thursday at 8 p.m.), Radio Fighter Pilots (Friday at 9 p.m.), Aaron Voss (Saturday at 3:30 p.m.), Fair Warning (Saturday at 3:30 p.m.), and Chicago Farmer & the Field Notes (Saturday at 9 p.m.).
Both levees will also boast additional events and attractions, with LeClaire hosting a community tailgate party, bingo games, a bags tournaments, the Grand Parade, and a community breakfast, and Port Byron featuring magician David Casas, the fireman's pancake breakfast, an arm-wrestling tournament, the Nick Teddy 5K, a sweet-corn-eating contest, and the annual Little Prince & Princess Pageants. 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 7 through 9 Great River Tug Fest events in LeClaire, visit TugFest.com, and for the Port Byron happenings, visit TugFest.org.
