Independence Day Regatta | July 24, 25 and 26, 2026

This year’s Independence Day Regatta will be held on Friday, Saturday & Sunday, July 24, 25 & 26. This move from our traditional 4th of July weekend is a one-time move due to the FIFA World Cup and the Philly 250 celebration of America’s 250th anniversary. The World Cup will be held from mid-June through mid-July, and many hotels are already sold out. What remains will be very expensive.

The World Cup Fan Festival will be held on Lemon Hill, across Kelly Drive from Boathouse Row and will be a “massive international celebration will feature the best of fútbol culture along with giant screens broadcasting live matches and highlights, food and beverage vendors, live music and entertainment and International cultural events and parties… and is expected to attract 15,000-20,000 excited attendees each match day.”

Another issue with the 4th of July weekend would be the uncertainty of getting a Kelly Drive closure and its parking. Further, competition would have to conclude before noon on Saturday, July 4, limiting our race schedule.

The Schuylkill Navy has been working with the City of Philadelphia and Fairmount Park for the past several months on options for the Independence Day Regatta. We considered other venues, a condensed format and date changes. The City has been most accommodating in working with us on this.

Looking forward to seeing you again at the Independence Day Regatta! We’ll be back to the 4th of July weekend in 2027.

Clete

2025 Results:

• Rowtown
• Regatta Central

Heat sheets are posted on rowtown.org and on Regatta Central on the Schedule tab on the left. On rowtown, click on Start Order on left for time trials.

Coaches and coxswains meeting recording and PowerPoint slide deck

IDR Racing Guidelines – review this with your crews.

Changes for 2025:

• All intermediate events are now U23
• Novice singles have been replaced with U15 singles.

Pics from the 2024 awards dock

The 2025 Independence Day Regatta is now open for entries on Regatta Central. Please review our regatta bulletin before making your entries. Some other helpful pages:

• Event Index – a handy cross-reference to find your event number
• Schedule – a general overview of the schedule
• Preliminary schedule – based on 2024 schedule

The IDR College Expo will be held on Friday, July 4, from 3 to 6:00 pm. Registration required for coaches and athletes.

Independence Day Regatta Traffic Patterns

We can always use volunteers: timing support, hospitality, dockmasters, trailer parking and more. Check out our volunteer page for more info and to sign up.

The Schuylkill Navy of Philadelphia is dedicated to expanding racial diversity, equity, and inclusion in the Philadelphia rowing community. We stand against racist speech and behaviors and will take action against any occurrence in any Schuylkill Navy-conducted event or any organization affiliated with the Navy. We strive to make Boathouse Row and the eighteen clubs and organizations that comprise the Schuylkill Navy a welcoming space for all. We acknowledge that rowing changes lives and that we must all do more to extend the opportunity to experience the transformational power of our sport to the wider community, especially to populations that have been historically under-represented in their access to rowing.