diff --git a/.bumpversion.cfg b/.bumpversion.cfg
index 46022b789..4aacba4f3 100644
--- a/.bumpversion.cfg
+++ b/.bumpversion.cfg
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 [bumpversion]
-current_version = 1.6.0b5
+current_version = 1.6.0rc1
 parse = (?P<major>[\d]+) # major version number
 	\.(?P<minor>[\d]+) # minor version number
 	\.(?P<patch>[\d]+) # patch version number
diff --git a/.changes/1.6.0-rc1.md b/.changes/1.6.0-rc1.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b01567fcd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changes/1.6.0-rc1.md
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+## dbt-redshift 1.6.0-rc1 - July 17, 2023
+
+### Features
+
+-  ([#179](https://github.com/dbt-labs/dbt-redshift/issues/179))
+- add merge as a new incremental strategy for redshift ([#402](https://github.com/dbt-labs/dbt-redshift/issues/402))
+- add dbt-redshift portion of dbt_clone functionality ([#504](https://github.com/dbt-labs/dbt-redshift/issues/504))
+- Enumerate implemented materialized view features via integration test flags  and change `autorefresh` to `auto_refresh` ([#dbt-labs/dbt-core#6911](https://github.com/dbt-labs/dbt-redshift/issues/dbt-labs/dbt-core#6911))
+
+### Fixes
+
+- Remove dependent_projects argument from PartialProject call in unit tests ([#7955](https://github.com/dbt-labs/dbt-redshift/issues/7955))
+- Fix regression in redshift-connector==2.0.912 ([#518](https://github.com/dbt-labs/dbt-redshift/issues/518))
+- Fixed unit test that broke following dbt clone work ([#518](https://github.com/dbt-labs/dbt-redshift/issues/518))
+- cast the port as an int ([#518](https://github.com/dbt-labs/dbt-redshift/issues/518))
+- hard pin dep on redshift_connector ([#531](https://github.com/dbt-labs/dbt-redshift/issues/531), [#532](https://github.com/dbt-labs/dbt-redshift/issues/532))
+- re-enable query commenting ([#536](https://github.com/dbt-labs/dbt-redshift/issues/536))
+
+### Dependencies
+
+- Update pytest-xdist requirement from ~=3.2 to ~=3.3 ([#449](https://github.com/dbt-labs/dbt-redshift/pull/449))
+- Update types-requests requirement from ~=2.28 to ~=2.31 ([#461](https://github.com/dbt-labs/dbt-redshift/pull/461))
+- Update tox requirement from ~=4.5 to ~=4.6 ([#481](https://github.com/dbt-labs/dbt-redshift/pull/481))
+- Bump mypy from 1.2.0 to 1.4.0 ([#503](https://github.com/dbt-labs/dbt-redshift/pull/503))
+- Update pre-commit requirement from ~=2.21 to ~=3.3 ([#426](https://github.com/dbt-labs/dbt-redshift/pull/426))
+- Update pytest requirement from ~=7.3 to ~=7.4 ([#507](https://github.com/dbt-labs/dbt-redshift/pull/507))
+- Bump mypy from 1.4.0 to 1.4.1 ([#508](https://github.com/dbt-labs/dbt-redshift/pull/508))
+- Update pip-tools requirement from ~=6.13 to ~=6.14 ([#517](https://github.com/dbt-labs/dbt-redshift/pull/517))
+
+### Contributors
+- [@jiezhen-chen](https://github.com/jiezhen-chen) ([#179](https://github.com/dbt-labs/dbt-redshift/issues/179), [#402](https://github.com/dbt-labs/dbt-redshift/issues/402), [#518](https://github.com/dbt-labs/dbt-redshift/issues/518))
diff --git a/.changes/unreleased/Dependencies-20230515-195952.yaml b/.changes/1.6.0/Dependencies-20230515-195952.yaml
similarity index 100%
rename from .changes/unreleased/Dependencies-20230515-195952.yaml
rename to .changes/1.6.0/Dependencies-20230515-195952.yaml
diff --git a/.changes/unreleased/Dependencies-20230523-195945.yaml b/.changes/1.6.0/Dependencies-20230523-195945.yaml
similarity index 100%
rename from .changes/unreleased/Dependencies-20230523-195945.yaml
rename to .changes/1.6.0/Dependencies-20230523-195945.yaml
diff --git a/.changes/unreleased/Dependencies-20230605-195944.yaml b/.changes/1.6.0/Dependencies-20230605-195944.yaml
similarity index 100%
rename from .changes/unreleased/Dependencies-20230605-195944.yaml
rename to .changes/1.6.0/Dependencies-20230605-195944.yaml
diff --git a/.changes/unreleased/Dependencies-20230620-195844.yaml b/.changes/1.6.0/Dependencies-20230620-195844.yaml
similarity index 100%
rename from .changes/unreleased/Dependencies-20230620-195844.yaml
rename to .changes/1.6.0/Dependencies-20230620-195844.yaml
diff --git a/.changes/unreleased/Dependencies-20230624-182902.yaml b/.changes/1.6.0/Dependencies-20230624-182902.yaml
similarity index 100%
rename from .changes/unreleased/Dependencies-20230624-182902.yaml
rename to .changes/1.6.0/Dependencies-20230624-182902.yaml
diff --git a/.changes/unreleased/Dependencies-20230626-195917.yaml b/.changes/1.6.0/Dependencies-20230626-195917.yaml
similarity index 100%
rename from .changes/unreleased/Dependencies-20230626-195917.yaml
rename to .changes/1.6.0/Dependencies-20230626-195917.yaml
diff --git a/.changes/unreleased/Dependencies-20230626-195934.yaml b/.changes/1.6.0/Dependencies-20230626-195934.yaml
similarity index 100%
rename from .changes/unreleased/Dependencies-20230626-195934.yaml
rename to .changes/1.6.0/Dependencies-20230626-195934.yaml
diff --git a/.changes/unreleased/Dependencies-20230703-190419.yaml b/.changes/1.6.0/Dependencies-20230703-190419.yaml
similarity index 100%
rename from .changes/unreleased/Dependencies-20230703-190419.yaml
rename to .changes/1.6.0/Dependencies-20230703-190419.yaml
diff --git a/.changes/unreleased/Features-20230407-104723.yaml b/.changes/1.6.0/Features-20230407-104723.yaml
similarity index 100%
rename from .changes/unreleased/Features-20230407-104723.yaml
rename to .changes/1.6.0/Features-20230407-104723.yaml
diff --git a/.changes/unreleased/Features-20230613-144752.yaml b/.changes/1.6.0/Features-20230613-144752.yaml
similarity index 100%
rename from .changes/unreleased/Features-20230613-144752.yaml
rename to .changes/1.6.0/Features-20230613-144752.yaml
diff --git a/.changes/unreleased/Features-20230622-144649.yaml b/.changes/1.6.0/Features-20230622-144649.yaml
similarity index 100%
rename from .changes/unreleased/Features-20230622-144649.yaml
rename to .changes/1.6.0/Features-20230622-144649.yaml
diff --git a/.changes/unreleased/Features-20230714-160100.yaml b/.changes/1.6.0/Features-20230714-160100.yaml
similarity index 100%
rename from .changes/unreleased/Features-20230714-160100.yaml
rename to .changes/1.6.0/Features-20230714-160100.yaml
diff --git a/.changes/unreleased/Fixes-20230628-123227.yaml b/.changes/1.6.0/Fixes-20230628-123227.yaml
similarity index 100%
rename from .changes/unreleased/Fixes-20230628-123227.yaml
rename to .changes/1.6.0/Fixes-20230628-123227.yaml
diff --git a/.changes/unreleased/Fixes-20230706-001056.yaml b/.changes/1.6.0/Fixes-20230706-001056.yaml
similarity index 100%
rename from .changes/unreleased/Fixes-20230706-001056.yaml
rename to .changes/1.6.0/Fixes-20230706-001056.yaml
diff --git a/.changes/unreleased/Fixes-20230706-012233.yaml b/.changes/1.6.0/Fixes-20230706-012233.yaml
similarity index 100%
rename from .changes/unreleased/Fixes-20230706-012233.yaml
rename to .changes/1.6.0/Fixes-20230706-012233.yaml
diff --git a/.changes/unreleased/Fixes-20230706-123329.yaml b/.changes/1.6.0/Fixes-20230706-123329.yaml
similarity index 100%
rename from .changes/unreleased/Fixes-20230706-123329.yaml
rename to .changes/1.6.0/Fixes-20230706-123329.yaml
diff --git a/.changes/unreleased/Fixes-20230713-105351.yaml b/.changes/1.6.0/Fixes-20230713-105351.yaml
similarity index 100%
rename from .changes/unreleased/Fixes-20230713-105351.yaml
rename to .changes/1.6.0/Fixes-20230713-105351.yaml
diff --git a/.changes/unreleased/Fixes-20230713-190412.yaml b/.changes/1.6.0/Fixes-20230713-190412.yaml
similarity index 100%
rename from .changes/unreleased/Fixes-20230713-190412.yaml
rename to .changes/1.6.0/Fixes-20230713-190412.yaml
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index dd2d5cafc..10d12ce2c 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -5,13 +5,44 @@
 - "Breaking changes" listed under a version may require action from end users or external maintainers when upgrading to that version.
 - Do not edit this file directly. This file is auto-generated using [changie](https://github.com/miniscruff/changie). For details on how to document a change, see [the contributing guide](https://github.com/dbt-labs/dbt-redshift/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md#adding-changelog-entry)
 
-## dbt-redshift 1.6.0-b5 - June 23, 2023
+## dbt-redshift 1.6.0-rc1 - July 17, 2023
 
 ### Features
 
-- Add support for materialized views ([#dbt-labs/dbt-core#6911](https://github.com/dbt-labs/dbt-redshift/issues/dbt-labs/dbt-core#6911))
+-  ([#179](https://github.com/dbt-labs/dbt-redshift/issues/179))
+- add merge as a new incremental strategy for redshift ([#402](https://github.com/dbt-labs/dbt-redshift/issues/402))
+- add dbt-redshift portion of dbt_clone functionality ([#504](https://github.com/dbt-labs/dbt-redshift/issues/504))
+- Enumerate implemented materialized view features via integration test flags  and change `autorefresh` to `auto_refresh` ([#dbt-labs/dbt-core#6911](https://github.com/dbt-labs/dbt-redshift/issues/dbt-labs/dbt-core#6911))
+
+### Fixes
 
+- Remove dependent_projects argument from PartialProject call in unit tests ([#7955](https://github.com/dbt-labs/dbt-redshift/issues/7955))
+- Fix regression in redshift-connector==2.0.912 ([#518](https://github.com/dbt-labs/dbt-redshift/issues/518))
+- Fixed unit test that broke following dbt clone work ([#518](https://github.com/dbt-labs/dbt-redshift/issues/518))
+- cast the port as an int ([#518](https://github.com/dbt-labs/dbt-redshift/issues/518))
+- hard pin dep on redshift_connector ([#531](https://github.com/dbt-labs/dbt-redshift/issues/531), [#532](https://github.com/dbt-labs/dbt-redshift/issues/532))
+- re-enable query commenting ([#536](https://github.com/dbt-labs/dbt-redshift/issues/536))
 
+### Dependencies
+
+- Update pytest-xdist requirement from ~=3.2 to ~=3.3 ([#449](https://github.com/dbt-labs/dbt-redshift/pull/449))
+- Update types-requests requirement from ~=2.28 to ~=2.31 ([#461](https://github.com/dbt-labs/dbt-redshift/pull/461))
+- Update tox requirement from ~=4.5 to ~=4.6 ([#481](https://github.com/dbt-labs/dbt-redshift/pull/481))
+- Bump mypy from 1.2.0 to 1.4.0 ([#503](https://github.com/dbt-labs/dbt-redshift/pull/503))
+- Update pre-commit requirement from ~=2.21 to ~=3.3 ([#426](https://github.com/dbt-labs/dbt-redshift/pull/426))
+- Update pytest requirement from ~=7.3 to ~=7.4 ([#507](https://github.com/dbt-labs/dbt-redshift/pull/507))
+- Bump mypy from 1.4.0 to 1.4.1 ([#508](https://github.com/dbt-labs/dbt-redshift/pull/508))
+- Update pip-tools requirement from ~=6.13 to ~=6.14 ([#517](https://github.com/dbt-labs/dbt-redshift/pull/517))
+
+### Contributors
+- [@jiezhen-chen](https://github.com/jiezhen-chen) ([#179](https://github.com/dbt-labs/dbt-redshift/issues/179), [#402](https://github.com/dbt-labs/dbt-redshift/issues/402), [#518](https://github.com/dbt-labs/dbt-redshift/issues/518))
+
+
+## dbt-redshift 1.6.0-b5 - June 23, 2023
+
+### Features
+
+- Add support for materialized views ([#dbt-labs/dbt-core#6911](https://github.com/dbt-labs/dbt-redshift/issues/dbt-labs/dbt-core#6911))
 
 ## dbt-redshift 1.6.0-b4 - June 16, 2023
 
diff --git a/dbt/adapters/redshift/__version__.py b/dbt/adapters/redshift/__version__.py
index da9f11e34..7a0130d40 100644
--- a/dbt/adapters/redshift/__version__.py
+++ b/dbt/adapters/redshift/__version__.py
@@ -1 +1 @@
-version = "1.6.0b5"
+version = "1.6.0rc1"