Cincinnati's biggest charity flotilla is back on the calendar. The Rubber Duck Regatta returns during Riverfest on Sunday, Sept. 6, sending as many as 200,000 rubber ducks bobbing down the Ohio River to raise money for Freestore Foodbank, the region's largest hunger-relief organization.
The regatta has grown into a Labor Day weekend institution since former Freestore Foodbank board member Bob Edwards created it in 1995, when just 18,000 ducks raised $69,000 in the event's first year, according to Cincinnati People. Three decades later, the race has swelled into what Forbes has called the largest rubber duck race in the country, consistently pulling in more than $1 million a year and serving as an unofficial local kickoff to Feeding America's Hunger Action Month.
As WCPO 9 Cincinnati reports, participants can register and purchase ducks at rubberduckregatta.org, with entrants eligible to win prizes including $10,000, a year of groceries or a year of gas. Per Freestore Foodbank, every $5 duck purchase translates to 15 meals for kids across the tri-state, a direct line between the splashy race and the region's dinner tables.
Child Hunger Is Climbing Faster Than Overall Need
The stakes behind this year's regatta have sharpened. Feeding America's 2026 Map the Meal Gap study found that roughly 292,000 people across Freestore Foodbank's 20-county tri-state service area face food insecurity, including 90,740 children — a 10.3% jump in child food insecurity since the previous report, according to Movers & Makers. That means hunger is rising faster among kids than among the general population in the area the food bank serves.
The same data shows sharp geographic disparities. Kentucky has the highest child food insecurity rate in the service territory at 25.3%, compared with 20.8% in Ohio and 20.7% in Indiana, and Kentucky also leads in overall food insecurity at 18.2%, the outlet's report notes. The numbers help explain why organizers are leaning hard on the duck sale this year to fund targeted programs rather than general relief.
Where Duck Money Actually Goes
Freestore Foodbank's fiscal year 2025 impact report shows the scale of what regatta proceeds help support: 47.2 million meals distributed across 20 counties in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana through a network of 579 community partner food pantries and program sites. Government funding accounted for 44% of the food distributed, while donated and rescued food made up another 36%, according to the food bank's own accounting.
Proceeds specifically fund programs like Power Pack, which sent home 193,000 weekend food packs — more than 524,000 meals — across 111 sites in fiscal year 2025, per Freestore Foodbank. The packs are designed to give school-aged kids easy-to-prepare meals to get through weekends when school meal programs aren't available.
The organization is also under new leadership this year. Kreg Kessee, who previously held executive roles at corporate entities including Procter & Gamble, has taken over as President and CEO, replacing longtime chief Kurt Reiber, Movers & Makers reports.
A Milestone Riverfest and a Changed Launch Site
This year's regatta lands during a milestone Riverfest weekend. The event coincides with the 50th anniversary edition of the Western & Southern WEBN Fireworks, which is expanding into a 360-degree display along the riverfront with a second barge zone and rooftop pyrotechnics, according to Cincinnati CityBeat. The fireworks traditionally draw spectators to both the Ohio and Kentucky sides of the river.
Riverfest as a whole is estimated to draw around 636,000 spectators to the Ohio River corridor and generate $25 million to $30 million in economic activity for hotels, restaurants and attractions across Cincinnati, Covington and Newport, per regional event data. The rubber ducks themselves have also had to adapt to changing infrastructure: ducks were traditionally launched from the Purple People Bridge, but weight limits and ongoing maintenance on the pedestrian bridge forced organizers to adjust the physical drop format in recent years, as Cincinnati Magazine has detailed.
WCPO's Cincy Lifestyle, an original local lifestyle show hosted by Michelle Hopkins and focused on informative, useful and entertaining content, featured the regatta as part of its coverage of community organizations, businesses and happenings around Greater Cincinnati. The show airs weekdays at 10 a.m. on WCPO 9.
