diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index f6bda9d5d9..4c5555afd6 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
   "name": "@gmod/jbrowse",
   "main": "browser/main.js",
-  "version": "1.16.0-alpha.0",
+  "version": "1.16.10",
   "description": "JBrowse - client-side genome browser",
   "repository": "https://github.com/GMOD/jbrowse.git",
   "scripts": {
diff --git a/release-notes.md b/release-notes.md
index a63ada7e72..4d9a354acf 100644
--- a/release-notes.md
+++ b/release-notes.md
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-{{$NEXT}}
+# Release 1.16.10     2020-09-24 16:06:00 UTC
 
 ## Minor improvements
 
diff --git a/src/JBrowse/package.json b/src/JBrowse/package.json
index 09435d2165..3f45c3207d 100644
--- a/src/JBrowse/package.json
+++ b/src/JBrowse/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
     "name": "JBrowse",
-    "version": "1.16.0-alpha.0",
+    "version": "1.16.10",
     "copyright":"© 2007-2017 The Evolutionary Software Foundation",
     "main": "main",
     "dependencies": {
diff --git a/website/blog/2020-09-24-jbrowse-1-16-10.md b/website/blog/2020-09-24-jbrowse-1-16-10.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..9cac4a470c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/website/blog/2020-09-24-jbrowse-1-16-10.md
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+---
+layout: post
+title: JBrowse 1.16.10 maintenance release
+date: 2020-09-24
+tags: ["News","Software releases"]
+---
+
+Hello all,
+
+This contains that helps long reads especially and a bugfix for rendering SNPs on iso-seq reads/reads with multiple CIGAR skips. There are also other small bugfixes and improvements. Please see the changelog below!
+
+*   [JBrowse-1.16.10.zip](https://github.com/GMOD/jbrowse/releases/download/1.16.10-release/JBrowse-1.16.10.zip) - minified release
+*   [JBrowse-1.16.10-dev.zip](https://github.com/GMOD/jbrowse/archive/1.16.10-release.zip) - use this if you modify jbrowse source code or use plugins
+*   [JBrowse-1.16.10-desktop-win32-x64.zip](https://github.com/GMOD/jbrowse/releases/download/1.16.10-release/JBrowse-1.16.10-desktop-win32-x64.zip)
+*   [JBrowse-1.16.10-desktop-linux-x64.zip](https://github.com/GMOD/jbrowse/releases/download/1.16.10-release/JBrowse-1.16.10-desktop-linux-x64.zip)
+*   [JBrowse-1.16.10-desktop-darwin-x64.zip](https://github.com/GMOD/jbrowse/releases/download/1.16.10-release/JBrowse-1.16.10-desktop-darwin-x64.zip)
+
+
+
+
+## Minor improvements
+
+-   Added an optimization for BAM that helps for long reads especially
+    (<a href="https://github.com/cmdcolin">@cmdcolin</a>)
+
+-   Added generation of the MD tag if none is specified in BAM (issue
+    #1022, <a href="https://github.com/cmdcolin">@cmdcolin</a>)
+
+-   Added `customRefRename` and `replaceRefRename` global configs for
+    extending and replacing ref renaming functionality respectively.
+    Ref renaming helps things like chrM and chrMT to be loaded onto the
+    same chromosome in jbrowse (<a href="https://github.com/cmdcolin">@cmdcolin</a>, <a href="https://github.com/gmod/jbrowse/pull/1506">issue #1506</a>)
+
+-   Added support for a -f option for setup.sh. This option causes
+    setup to skip installing perl prerequisites and setting up
+    sample data. It is primarily intended to support faster builds
+    in a Docker context. (<a href="https://github.com/scottcain">@scottcain</a>)
+
+## Bug fixes
+
+-   Fix the display of mismatches from hard clipped BAM sequences (<a href="https://github.com/gmod/jbrowse/pull/1513">issue #1513</a>)
+
+-   Fix ability to use tracks from Open track dialog in combination tracks.
+    Thanks to Sonny Arora for the repo (<a href="https://github.com/gmod/jbrowse/pull/1536">issue #1536</a>)
+
+-   Fix mismatch/SNP calculation for reads with multiple skips, e.g. Iso-Seq
+    (<a href="https://github.com/cmdcolin">@cmdcolin</a>)
+
diff --git a/website/siteConfig.js b/website/siteConfig.js
index 7302294fc8..67a5c98cd0 100644
--- a/website/siteConfig.js
+++ b/website/siteConfig.js
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ const createVariableInjectionPlugin = variables => {
 };
 
 const v = {
-  "version": "1.16.9"
+  "version": "1.16.10"
 };
 const siteVariables = {
   version: v.version,