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Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Downtown Duck Derby

A river of 5,000 yellow rubber ducks floated downstream in Nashua, NH, last Saturday.
They weren't bathtub escapees.This was a planned fundraising event.

The 2nd Annual Duck Derby was sponsored by the Nashua Rotary Club. Right on schedule, the yellow flotilla was released dumped into the Nashua River near our mill apt residence. We joined the gathered crowds to cheer on the silent race entrants. 


Duck contestants raced floated an estimated 500 feet to a duck barrier near the Main Street bridge. There, duck wranglers snagged the first ducks to reach the finish line. The top three won cash prizes for their adoptees.
Days before the duck derby, volunteers put waterproof numbered tags on the bottom of all 5,000 entrants. The names of those who adopted ducks were entered into a database which had the person's name and number of ducks adopted. Tag numbers were randomly assigned by computer. According to race officials, this was to ensure that: "no ducks were on steroids and that the race was not fixed."

There was no official announcement of the winning time, and the total race time was under 15 minutes.
Duck adoptees didn't get to keep the winning or losing duck(s). That's because after the derby, all ducks were collected and expected to travel to their next race somewhere in the U.S. Laundry baskets worked quite well for the collection efforts.
Funds raised from the duck derby will go to support various local non-profit organizations and activities. When we lived in VA, this was an annual summer fundraiser sponsored by Eastern Shore Hospice. It's a fun and popular way to raise needed funds. No ducks were injured in the race.

16 comments:

Linda G. said...

This does look like a fun and enjoyable way to raise funds. Each year at my brother’s camp, activities are arranged for children one weekend day in July. One year was “Christmas in July”. The children each made a small styrofoam snowman on which their name was written. Once all the snowmen were made, they were carried to the creek and placed in a lineup by the children. At the count of three the children released their snowmen. The first snowman that reached the end point won a prize. The children had fun following their snowmen down the creek.

Annsterw said...

That is so super adorable!!! We do one of those each year at the Regatta here in Pittsburgh! Sooo fun!

MadSnapper said...

I have seen other duck races on other blogs over the past years but this is the first I understood how the race raises funds... interesting read. and glad they reuse the ducks at other races.

Christina said...

Such a fun event! The weather was good for it, too. Those little ducks get to travel the US, how lucky are they?

Kathy said...

What fun! I haven't seen a rubber duckie race in ages. Hope they make this an annual event.

Anvilcloud said...

That event was, quite obviously, just ducky.

Emma Springfield said...

So much fun.

William Kendall said...

I've seen it done here, but not in several years.

Nil @ The Little House by the Lake said...

What a fun event! This is the first time I heard of a duck derby. 😊

Valerie said...

I never heard of a duck derby but it does look look like a fun day or days.

Bill said...

A fund way to raise funds!

Rain said...

Oh that's really neat! How fun to see all of those yellow ducks!

Karen Lakis said...

Oh my goodness - so many little yellow ducks! This looks as though it would be fun to watch.

Linda said...

How fun was that?? And I love that you got to see it happen!

Connie said...

This looks like such a fun event and clever fundraiser!

baili said...

wow that is quite a fun to join and enjoy Dorothy :)
i bet you had wonderful time cheering up ducks
your captures brilliantly tell the story and involve in the event by viewing them :)
hahaha match fixing sounds like a problem for all species lol
wishing you blessed week ahead my friend :)