23rd Annual Boyne Thunder Poker Run
The 23rd Annual Boyne Thunder Poker Run is set to return to Northern Michigan July 10–11, 2026, bringing another massive weekend of high-performance boating, waterfront entertainment, and charitable fundraising to Boyne City and the surrounding Lake Michigan shoreline. Widely considered one of the premier poker runs in the Midwest, Boyne Thunder combines breathtaking freshwater scenery with some of the most exotic offshore powerboats in the country.
Hosted by Boyne City Main Street in partnership with Camp Quality and Challenge Mountain, the annual event raises significant funding for children battling cancer and individuals with physical and cognitive disabilities. Organizers report that the 2025 event generated more than $128,000 for Camp Quality and over $23,000 for Challenge Mountain programs.
Boyne Thunder has built a national reputation not only because of its charity mission, but because of its incredible route through some of the most scenic boating waters anywhere in the Great Lakes region. The roughly 150-mile poker run begins in Boyne City before winding through Lake Charlevoix, Round Lake, Lake Michigan, Grand Traverse Bay, Little Traverse Bay, and several Northern Michigan harbor towns before returning to Boyne City for the finish.
Official card stops for the 2026 route include:
• Elk Rapids
• Northport
• Charlevoix
• Bay Harbor
• Harbor Springs
• Horton Bay
The weekend officially kicks off Thursday with a Fun Run to Bay Harbor hosted by UNRIEHL Performance, followed later that evening by the Boyne Thunder Pre-Party at Boyne Mountain Resort.
Friday’s activities center around the famous “Stroll the Streets” celebration in downtown Boyne City. The four-block-long street festival transforms the downtown area into one massive waterfront party filled with boat displays, live entertainment, dining, shopping, music, and thousands of spectators gathering to view the high-performance boats up close.
Saturday morning begins with parade laps through Boyne City as participating boats leave the marina in organized groups before heading onto the open water. Spectators line the shoreline and marina areas to watch the fleet of offshore catamarans, center consoles, V-bottoms, and custom performance boats thunder past before beginning the long-distance poker run route across Northern Michigan waters.
One of the event’s most popular spectator stops occurs in Charlevoix, where crowds gather around the Pine River Channel and marina areas to watch the boats arrive for lunch before blasting back out into Lake Michigan during the afternoon departure.
The event concludes Saturday evening back in Boyne City with poker hand judging, charity auctions, dinner, live entertainment, and awards presentations inside the Poker Run Village Tent.
Because of limited dock capacity and overwhelming demand, Boyne Thunder consistently sells out extremely quickly. Organizers note that general registration for 2026 filled almost immediately, continuing a trend that has made the event one of the hardest-to-secure registrations in the performance boating world.
With crystal-clear freshwater scenery, massive spectator turnout, elite offshore boats, and one of the strongest charitable missions in the boating community, the 2026 Boyne Thunder Poker Run is once again shaping up to become one of the premier performance boating weekends in North America.