AuSable River Festival

08/03/2026

Reliving HUP Race night ... so much fun!

There is a new champion of the H.U.P. – Hurry Up and Paddle! – or Sink Race, the MMR (Mobile Medical Response) team of paddler Trapper Gillespie and runner John “Fefe” McFarland.

Gillespie and McFarland had the fastest time in the final heat of 2:01 minutes.

Article link in comments.

07/26/2026

Before we all paddle off into the sunset... it's time to announce our 2026 AuSable River Festival Duck Derby winners! 🦆🎉

A HUGE thank you to everyone who adopted a duck this year! Every ticket purchased helped support our local nonprofit organizations while adding a little friendly competition to the river. Congratulations to all of our lucky ducks!

🏆 Grand Prize Winners
🥇 1st Place – $250
Twister McQuack from the Lighthouse Title Team — Duck #207
And $150 goes to AuSable Valley Animal Shelter - their non-profit of choice!

🥈 2nd Place – $100
General Waddles** from the Kodiak Team — Duck #1230

🥉3rd Place – $75
Donut Disturber from Jellystone Park Grayling — Duck #794

💵 $50 Heat Winners
🦆 Lucky Ducky (Katie Olson Farm Bureau) — #16
🦆 Paddy Quacks (NCACU) — #328
🦆 Quack McFlash (Dubois Lumber) — #379
🦆 Buffy Ducky (Cornell Insurance) — #523
🦆 Coraline QUackson (Spike's) — #669
🦆 Donut Disturber (Jellystone Park Grayling) — #805
🦆 Mr. Blinkie (AuSable Eye Care) — #893
🦆 QUack GPT (Alger Apartments) — #1336
🦆 Lavender Lucy (Homewaters Real Estate) — #1384
🦆 Twister McQuack (Lighthouse Title) — #232
🦆 Touchdown Tom (Suchey Chiropractic) — #1031
🦆 Quacks of All Trades (Northern Corporate Solutions) — #1570

📞 Winners will be contacted by phone to coordinate prize pickup. Our office will reopen on **Tuesday, July 28**. If you're one of our winners and would like to make arrangements sooner, feel free to send us a message here on Facebook!

Thanks again to everyone who participated, cheered on their favorite duck team, and helped make another AuSable River Festival a quacking good time. See you next year! 🦆💙

07/26/2026

Another AuSable River Festival is officially in the books, and what a week it was!

From classic cars and home-constructed boats to parades, live music, pageants, Kids Day, duck adoptions, and everything in between, Grayling showed up in the best way possible.

To every volunteer, sponsor, vendor, entertainer, partner, participant, and festival-goer: THANK YOU! You brought the energy, the smiles, and just the right amount of organized chaos that makes River Festival… well, River Festival.

But don’t get too comfortable—we’re not done celebrating yet! 👀🛶

We’re refreshing the AuSable River Canoe Marathon social media pages, anxiously following the race, cheering on every team, and waiting to see who crosses the finish line first.

Congratulations to every paddler taking on one of the toughest races out there. We’re rooting for you all the way to the finish!

Now if you’ll excuse us… we have some marathon updates to stalk. 🛶💙

07/25/2026

Duck Derby Dump is at 5 pm today at the City Park! Come downtown and pick your Duck tickets until 4!

07/25/2026

Start your Canoe Marathon Saturday with a hearty Lumberjack Breakfast hosted by Grayling Restaurant, with proceeds benefiting the Grayling Youth Wrestling Club!

📍 Main Stage Area (Downtown Grayling)
🕗 8:00–10:00 AM
💲 Just $5 per plate or $20 for a family

Come meet your new Miss AuSable River Festival titleholders, grab a delicious breakfast, and fuel up before cheering on the GRA 5K/10K or finding your spot for the AuSable River Festival Parade!

Great food, a great cause, and a great way to kick off one of the biggest days of Festival week. We’ll see you downtown! 💙

07/24/2026

GET YOUR DUCK DERBY TICKETS!

Come downtown to the Main Stage area and pick your passion: each team sponsor has chosen a local non-profit, who could receive a $150 donation if their team wins the big heat!

$5 a duck!

07/24/2026

Can't say you're bored this weekend in Grayling!

So much to do, see, taste, and try for this year's AuSable River Festival, AuSable River Canoe Marathon!

07/24/2026

The party has officially started!

Live music downtown daily now through Saturday night! Come find a new band to love, or see your returning favorite 🎶 🕺🏻

07/23/2026

Only at the HUP Race can cardboard boats, questionable engineering, fierce competition, and a whole lot of laughter all exist at the same time.

🏆 Queen’s Choice Award (which was totally unbiased… probably 😏) went to the Flamin’ S’Mores from Jellystone Park. Rumor has it the Queen may have worked there once upon a time, but we’re sure that had nothing to do with it…

👕 Special Judges Award went to Grayling Pharmacy for the best T-shirts and best team slogans! Style points absolutely count, and when a joke is good, you gotta run with it!

📰 Best Costume Award went to The Avalanche for proudly celebrating the freedom of the press. Extra points for creativity!

🤏 Almost, But Not Quite Award went to the Grayling Fireman’s Association. You were so close… emphasis on “almost.”

🚤 And after one very unfortunate tip-over, MMR paddled and ran their way to the overall victory! Congratulations on taking home this year’s bragging rights!

💥 We also presented the coveted Sinker Award to the Water Boys from Clearwater Drilling, proving once again that sometimes gravity wins.

A huge thank you to every team that built a boat, embraced the chaos, laughed at themselves, and reminded us why the HUP Race is one of the most entertaining traditions of the AuSable River Festival. Whether you crossed the finish line, crossed your fingers, or crossed into the river… you’re all part of what makes this event unforgettable.

Thanks for supporting the fun and debauchery to our sponsors - Grayling Promotional Association, DuBois Lumber for our HUP Kits, and big thanks to Penrod's Au Sable Canoe and Kayak for supplying our safety kayak, life vests and paddles - we couldn’t have made tonight happen without you!

📸 Share your favorite HUP Race photos and videos in the comments—we want to relive every splash, sprint, and spectacular sinking!

07/22/2026

🚣💥 TONIGHT'S HUP RACE NIGHT! 💥🚣

The HUP Race hits the water TONIGHT at 6:00 PM in Grayling City Park!

Come watch teams put their homemade boats to the test as they race, splash, paddle... and maybe even sink! 😆 It's one of the most entertaining nights of the AuSable River Festival—you won't want to miss it!

A huge THANK YOU to our amazing sponsors who make this event possible:

🛶 Grayling Promotional Association - GPA – our "I'm Just Here for the HUPS" Sponsor
🔨 DuBois Lumber – our HUP Kit Sponsor, providing all of the building materials for our teams!

Grab your friends, bring a lawn chair, and we'll see you at the river! 🌊🎉