Floatzilla 2025 at Lake Potter -- August 16 (photo provided by River Action).
River Action’s fun Floatzilla event is roaring back for its 16th year, and it's bigger than ever.
On Saturday, August 16, the nonprofit is hosting the largest paddle event on the Mississippi, with new morning races and added activities at Rock Island's Lake Potter.
Experts and novices will have the opportunity to choose from eight launch locations ranging from paddling around Lake Potter (located at Illinois 92 and Sunset Lane) to a half-mile paddle from Credit Island, all the way up to an 11-mile paddle from Empire Park.
You can stay for Floatzilla Palooza this year, featuring live music by the Funktastic 5 (11 a.m. - 3 p.m.), paddle games, an obstacle course, rubber duck hunt, cardboard boat races, food trucks, and more.
Chris True is in his second year with River Action and is event organizer. Last year, he said, Floatzilla attracted roughly 1,400 people, and the local record was in 2021, with 1,648 people. The world record for most canoes and kayaks at one time was set in 2013, at the Suttons Bay Floatilla in Michigan, which counted 2,099 vessels.
A Silvis native whose family owned kayaks, True had participated in Floatzilla four times before joining River Action. “I had done it with my parents and friends,” he said, “It’s super-cool to be part of it. It’s a unique thing. It’s a huge production.”
New to Floatzilla this year are races – beginning with a 10-mile canoe and kayak race, launching at 9:30 a.m. from Illiniwek Forest Preserve in Hampton, and a Navarro Canoe-specific race, starting 9:40 a.m. from Illiniwek – both ending at the Davenport Sailing Club.
Many people from all over the country converge for Floatzilla, and they fly state flags at Lake Potter. Volunteer Jeff Leonard said that one year, Floatzilla attracted people from 21 states. A 70-year-old retiree from Bettendorf, Leonard, who serves on the event's planning committee, has been volunteering for Floatzilla since its beginning,
“It's just very easy to volunteer, and you get a free T-shirt,” Leonard joked. “It’s an enjoyable group and they do a lot of good for the community.
“And it’s nice to see them all come in,” Leonard said of the boaters at Lake Potter, adding that the group photo – annually taken at 1:30 p.m. in conjunction with the world-record attempt – is not the event's main focus. “It’s just getting together with friends, floating down the river.”
“Our big push last year and this year,” said True, was making “a conscious effort to get people from the Chicago market. We push for a five-hour drive radius.” Regarding 2025's potential turnout, he expected a turnout of at least 1,500. “I'm very optimistic.”
River Action has enhanced the event's after party, named Floatzilla Palooza and sponsored by Roof Doctors, which will include an obstacle course in the water and rubber duck drop while participants wait for the photo. There will be 1,000 rubber ducks dropped from Hampton Crane; they have numbers attached, and some will win prizes sponsored by Midwest Bath.
A new cardboard-boat race will be part of Floatzilla Palooza on Lake Potter, and Rock Island Beach (just downstream from the Centennial Bridge) will also be an official stop for Floatzilla, its event featuring drinks and music.
“It’s something you can commit to as a family or group of friends,” True said of Floatzilla. “It’s a general call to action – getting out on the water – and I like it for being a catalyst for doing more of this stuff,” as River Action encourages people to appreciate the outdoors and do what they can to protect it.
True said “We get the community together” on the river. “Hopefully, then, it [becomes] a natural motivation. Why would anyone want to pollute this?”
River Action's mission is to foster the environmental, economic, and cultural vitality of the Mississippi River and its riverfront in the Quad Cities region. As a nonprofit, it strives to make Floatzilla accessible while covering necessary expenses to ensure a safe and enjoyable experience for all participants. River Action has many costs to cover for hosting such a large-scale event, and for your registration fee, you get a Floatzilla T-shirt, commemorative boat sticker, registration wristband, free parking, and access to shuttle services.
The key expenses that fees help cover are for permits and safety measures; apparel costs and transportation services; sanitation facilities; security personnel; entertainment; equipment; and venue amenities.
Floatzilla registration costs $45 until August 11 at 11:59 p.m., then $50 after. Packet pickup is August 15 from 4 to 7 p.m. Davenport's Credit Island Lodge (220 West River Drive). For more information and to register, visit FloatzillaQC.org, and for more on River Action, call (563)322-2969 and visit RiverAction.org.
