Will speedboat racing festival return to Biloxi in 2026? Here’s what we know
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Organizers plan a closed-course high-speed boat race in Biloxi April 10-12, 2026.
- Event will occupy The Great Lawn and waterfront near Harrah’s and Margaritaville.
- Organizers aim to fund local relief, tourism and family activities through sponsorships.
Eleven years after the final Smokin’ The Sound raced along the Biloxi channel, a new high-speed boat race could return to the city in 2026.
Kenny Foreman with the Trident Foundation, the nonprofit arm of the Krewe of Neptune, outlined the preliminary plans at Tuesday’s Biloxi Council meeting.
The dates for Gulf Coast Grand Prix are April 10-12 at The Great Lawn at Harrah’s Gulf Coast in East Biloxi. That would put it as the first event on a boat race circuit that draws drivers from California to New York, Foreman said.
Unlike the cigarette boats that raced in Biloxi during Smokin’ The Coast. “This is going to be a totally different type of event setting,” he said.
“It’s closed-course racing,” he said, which could be described as a NASCAR type event on the water.
Spectators will be able to take in every bit of the race from start to finish,” he said. It all will happen right in front of them, he said, from The Great Lawn to near Margaritaville Resort Biloxi, along the Biloxi channel between the beach and Deer Island.
Spring break conflict
The weekend selected for this new boat race is the same as is posted for the annual Black Spring Break in Biloxi and Gulfport. It traditionally results in heavy traffic and police presence in west Biloxi in response to the thousands of people who attend.
That area of east Biloxi where the boat race is proposed is a few miles from the busiest area of Spring Break.
It can handle heavy crowds, Foreman said, and has hotel rooms and parking at Margaritaville and Harrah’s, Golden Nugget and Palace casinos all nearby.
The boat race would be pretty much self-contained and fill the hotels, said Mayor Andrew “FoFo” Gilich.
“We just need to put the logistics together and put a few of the dollars in sponsorships, because I think the timing is perfect,” Gilich said.
Family event
“What we’re trying to do is make it a very family-friendly event,” Foreman said. He sees a Friday night street dance, a boat show, kids’ activities at a vendor village, live entertainment and a return to boat racing that has been going on in Biloxi since the mid-1850s.
The profits will support local initiatives, he said. “We do things like disaster relief. We feed the homeless,” he said, and support the community.
The event would kick off the tourism season on the Coast, similar to how Cruisin’ The Coast antique and classic car show extends the season into October.
Smokin’ The Sound powerboat races began in 2004, the year before Hurricane Katrina, and was named a Top 20 Spring Event in 2010 by the Southeast Tourism Society. The last was in April 2014 and the event was canceled in 2015 because of the economic downturn and the lack of financial support and sponsorships.
