Photograph courtesy Brewster Rhoads
Two weeks ago, the annual Ohio River Paddlefest celebrated its 25th anniversary with a Guinness World Record attempt for the “Largest Paddle Craft Party.” To achieve the title, Paddlefest needed to surpass the previous record of 1,105 human-powered watercraft on the water for at least 15 minutes simultaneously. And on August 1, overcoming unexpected and adverse weather conditions including storms and lightning, throngs of participants succeeded, with 1,440 paddlers on the Ohio River.
“What was amazing is that the unexpected challenge of the weather made it even more memorable to people and made the event more exciting to be a part of. We got this record despite lightning and thunderstorms. People can say, ‘I survived the 2026 Ohio River Paddlefest record attempt,’” says Brewster Rhoads, board chair for Ohio River Way and one of the original founders of Paddlefest. “It became more of an adventure this year than ever before.”
Photograph courtesy Brewster Rhoads
Paddlefest’s origins began in a small boardroom in Hyde Park, with a recreation committee called Ohio River Way. The group was looking to create an event for paddlers that would expose them to the Ohio River, its natural beauty, and the waterscape it had to offer for paddle sports. Since 2016, Adventure Crew, a nonprofit that connects teens to nature through outdoor adventures, has organized and benefited from Paddlefest. Rhoads also helped begin this organization back in 2013.
“We were optimistic after our first event, when we had a dinky little website. We still had 99 people who registered in advance and more than 250 people show up to the event itself. It was $10 for people to paddle, and we didn’t have rental boats. It was only people who had their own. We were shocked,” says Rhoads, an avid paddler himself, who spends much of his time on the Ohio. “People had a great time. It also did what we wanted it to do, which is to help people change their perceptions of the Ohio River from being perceived as dirty and dangerous to being safer and cleaner than they thought.”
Photograph courtesy Brewster Rhoads
Around 2012, after 11 years of success introducing paddlers to the Ohio River, Paddlefest began planning for its 25th anniversary. The Guinness World Record had always been a part of the Ohio River Way recreation committee’s plan for the milestone, but presented complicated procedures until recently, when Adventure Crew was able to pay the necessary fees to have a Guinness representative fly in to record the event.
To generate excitement about Paddlefest ahead of the event and raise further awareness about the region’s waterways and the Little Miami River, Paddlefest prepared its first Tributary Princess Contests. The contests took place in late July.
“Each tributary had a competition for princess: the Little Miami River, the Great Miami, and Mill Creek,” says Ally Algiers, who won Little Miami Princess. Participants in the contest had to wear a costume, present an ode to the river, “which was some sort of art piece or talent to share,” and complete a round of trivia. “This was my first Paddlefest. Because I won Little Miami Princess, I won free admission.”
Adventure Crew also planned collaborations with a number of local organizations and nonprofits like Bridge Adaptive Sports and Great Parks of Hamilton County, who encouraged their own volunteers or employees to paddle in the festival, set up booths at the Outdoors for All Expo Friday night celebration, and cheered on paddlers during their world record attempt the following day.
Photograph courtesy Brewster Rhoads
Bridge Adaptive Sports, a nonprofit dedicated to making sports accessible to individuals in the Greater Cincinnati area, has been a key component in Paddlefest’s operations since 2024. It curated a team of paddlers that could also join in on the record-setting festivities, ensuring that the opportunity to set out on the Ohio River was accessible to all.
“We had six paddlers in our group that went through a six-week training process to be out on the water with us,” says Michelle Blades, Bridge Adaptive’s creative communications manager. “It means a lot to us to be a part of a world record attempt. It means a lot to have that level of inclusion and that level of access, where somebody would have heard or seen this on the news and say to themselves, I can be a part of this too.”
Dulcey Griffith, who paddled with Bridge Adaptive, shared similar sentiments. A registered nurse at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, Griffith had been looking for resources for things to do that were compatible with her artificial limb. She has overcome cancer, caught the chickenpox virus, got septic, coded, and came back during her childhood, and for many years believed she would be limited in what she could participate in, in her career and in sports.
Photograph by Mark Griffith
“Seeing all those people out there, and the smiles on their faces because we had the ability to be with all those paddlers, and them cheering us along, was pretty cool,” Griffith says. “Being a part of Paddlefest and Bridge Adaptive Sports changed my world. You have a community of people coming together, learning about each other’s disabilities and how things work for them that may not work for you, which gave me a different perspective of other people’s lives.”
Madison Lindsay, who volunteered with Bridge Adaptive, participated in her first Paddlefest after getting her degree in outdoor recreation and education. Since then, she’s also started her own organization in the Cincinnati area called Play Wild, which hosts inclusive guided outdoor experiences, nature-based programs, and conservation education for all communities. For her, making outdoor activities inclusive has always been her interest.
“Getting involved in this community that’s relatively new to me, focused on connecting as many people as possible to the natural world, is important to me,” Lindsay says. “There were so many different partners that made this event possible. It feels cool that I was able to be a part of it, even if it was a small role. I have a lot of pride in this community.”
When August 1 arrived, the day of the milestone Paddlefest and world record attempt, paddlers arrived as early as 6 a.m. to begin parking and prepping to take to the water. The races include a 4.5-mile paddle and a 9-mile paddle. The first paddlers took off at 7 a.m.
Photograph courtesy Brewster Rhoads
“It was a very unique experience. Usually, I paddle and kayak by myself, maybe with a few other people. Having dozens and dozens of people around you, without commercial traffic, was a different environment. How often can you get to go down the Ohio River without worrying about other boats?” says Fred Hilkowitz, a two-time Paddlefest participant.
Storms gathered overhead shortly after, but despite the weather, paddlers still managed to complete their races without concern. Having planned for inclement weather, paddlers were instructed to pull off around the Big Mac Bridge, with the help of the weather service and the Coast Guard and wait for the storm to subside before getting back into the competition.
Photograph courtesy Brewster Rhoads
After 45 minutes of waiting, participants finished out their paddles to the very end. The world record was reached by 9 a.m. Rhoads himself rowed a quarter-mile down the river from Public Landing just to be a part of the festivities.
“My huge takeaway was this: don’t let someone tell you no, you can’t do it,” says Griffith. “I never dreamt in my life that I would ever be a part of a world record. Who would have ever thought?”
For paddler novices and experts alike, next year’s Paddlefest, now one of the largest paddle parties in the nation, will occur on August 7, 2027.
