Quack quack or rather duck, duck on the Nashua River this past Saturday.
That's because 8,3339 yellow rubber duckies floated down the Nashua River on Saturday. All were contestants in the 5th annual Duck Derby.
None of these were bathtub escapees. The Nashua Duck Derby was a planned swim event held every October (pandemic years aside).
No ducks were harmed in this annual fundraiser by the Rotary Club of Nashua West. All were adopted at $5 for a single with discounts for a six-quack, quackers dozen, and flock of 25. Duck adoptions are not tax deductible. After the race, all adoptees are returned to the group.
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| Race day morning members of Nashua Fire Department set up a duck barrier |
Early on race day morning, members of the Nashua Fire Department, working on the riverbank and in the water, stretched a plastic barrier below the Main Street bridge to prevent contestants from escaping further down river.  |
| Over 8,300 rubber ducks were dumped into the Nashua River |
Saturday, at 2 pm on a perfect weather day, thousands of duck contestants were dumped into the Nashua River. Onlookers gathered along the riverbank and the Main Street bridge to cheer the silent race entrants as the only quacking were human sounds. |
| This volunteer kayaker kept track of the lead ducks |
Ducks raced floated to the bridge vying for the top duck spots which meant cash prizes for sponsors. Race time was clocked at 9 minutes and 40 seconds (no word on whether this was a record time). |
| Lead ducks were scooped and returned to the judging table |
Winners were retrieved by a designated kayaking volunteer. The top cash prizes were worth quacking about — $2,500, $1,000 and $500. Winners were notified after the race results.
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| After the race, many volunteer kayakers scooped up all other entrants |
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| Ducks were scooped into rubber baskets on each kayak |
The losers also raced ducks were scooped out by members of a Nashua kayak group. No rubber entrants remained in the river. The cleanup took much longer than the actual race. |
| Cleanup took much longer then the under 10-minute race |
In case you were wondering, the racing career of these ducks isn't over. All contestants have a future race-win chance. After being collected, rubber ducks were dumped into containers and transported for cleanup, before flying off shipped to the next race destination. Duck races are fund raisers in other states. They were held when we lived in VA; friends in Oregon recently attended one. Most often, they are sponsored by a local Rotary organization.
This was not only a fun event on a summer-like (70℉) day, but a worthwhile one too. The Nashua Rotary Club uses proceeds from the duck adoptions to support over 40 local non-profit service organizations and charities, post-high school educational scholarships, regional projects, and international efforts for pure water.
Unfortunately, we did not have any entries in the race, but cheered on all those who did.
32 comments:
wow !!!!!!!!!!!!
thank you sooo much for making us part of this fun and exciting duck race which because of it's name i thought of actual ducks lol
images are so entertaining dear Dorothy! i so enjoyed the glimpse of race arranged by rotary club for fund which is a highly appreciative thing surly .
i bet from close event was more enjoyable :) thanks for bringing the pleasure to us too ,blessings
fun and good for the community...
Oh this was great to see, from before start to after finish! Well done! I've heard of these, but never seen all the details. Lots of kayaking hands needed.
Great photos!
A Rotary rubber duckie race is held here on Vergennes Day at the end of August.
Well, that's just _____. No! I resist that temptation.
That was a fun event supporting local charities. You had good weather and took some great photos.
It must have been fun but a shame real ducks hadn't been used-just kidding. That scenario would have been chaotic. 💖
Such a fun event. It was neat to see what 8300 rubber ducks look like.
What fun!
That looks like loads of fun -- and a great day for it! Glad they got the rubber from the river!
Fun for everyone and the perfect day for it. Thanks for sharing and have a wonderful week.
Sounds like a lot of fun, and also a great fundraiser. Google informed me there are quite a few duck races in the UK, though I'd never heard of them before and certainly never participated. A shame there aren't any in Northern Ireland.
Looks like it was a beautiful day for the race!
They used to do this here.
What a grand day of rubber ducky fun!
The Duck Derby looks a fun event, and importantly raises money for charity etc.
I enjoyed your photographs.
All the best Jan
I remember you showing this before, but I didn't know it was a national affair. I do like how the duckies are cleaned and make their way to another event. Enjoy the sun, but it won't be quite as warm as Saturday was. hugs-Erika
I'm glad they get every one of the ducks out of the river. ;)
Fun event for a good cause. -- they look like a yellow island at the beginning!
This was fascinating to see, Dorothy.
I absolutely enjoyed the photos you took. 🧡🧡🧡
Happy Wednesday 💐
Kudos to the organizers for cleaning the ducks before moving them to another waterway. This kind of diligence is very commendable.
I am familiar with the duck rice because of your prior posts telling about it that I had no idea that they cleaned the Ducks up and ship them off and use them somewhere else and that makes me feel good because it's perfect recycling
Nice sunny day for a duck race. Looked like a lot of fun!
Hi Beatrice, Yes, when we lived in the Chicago area these duck 'races' were also a big fund raiser. Nice that you've had some excitement...ours was all about getting over Covid-19. It took about 2 weeks for me, good thing that we were vaccinated and boosted! FYI, Laurie's family had a Studebaker Golden Hawk so that visit was extra special for her. My favorite...as you will eventually see on my blogsite...was the Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg Museum in Auburn Indiana. 3 nights in a row of freezing temperatures here...very unusual. Take Care, Big Daddy Dave
That is a lot of fun. I want to go buy some duckies for my shower.
wow they raised lots of $ we have a duck race here too.
cathy
Quack Quack! What fun!! I can just imagine all the quacking sounds going on around the river. What a neat way to raise money for special projects, etc. I've never witnessed one of these races, but have heard of them in other places. Thank you for more information than I ever knew!
That must be an exciting time. especially for the entrants. A fun way for Rotary to raise money.
Kids, big and small must love the day and the ducks...having a quacking time!!
This must have been such a fun day, and I'm glad that all the ducks were cleaned before participating in the next race. That is a huge task. I wish I could have seen how the rubber ducks were dumped in the water and then "raced" down the river.
I love that Dorothy! A brilliant day for it too! ♥
This is ducked up!
Looks like so much fun--and all for a good cause.
I love it!
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