Rubber duck race a splashing success
Money raised helps pay for free children’s activities
The real ducks of Renwick Brook Park had to compete for space alongside their bathtub counterparts Saturday as yellow, pink and blue rubber ducks crowded into the pond.
The annual (rubber) duck race is one of the more popular events during Bay Days festivities.
Nearly 1,000 ducks — each assigned a number attached to a ticket — were corralled into the middle of Renwick Brook.
The wind and current dictated the speed of the race on the inside of a floating boom, which kept the ducks on the straight and narrow.
Watching from the edge of the water were six-year-old Kaiden Kricak and his cousin, three-yearold Brady Nash, both of Glace Bay.
“He wanted to see the duck race. It’s the first time he’s come to it,” said Kaiden’s dad, Brent Kricak.
Kaiden was holding one ticket with the number 670. The boys sat waiting, anticipating the finish.
There was no yelling at his rubber duck in trying to somehow encourage it to move faster down the brook.
“I don’t know what colour he is because there’s so many of them,” he said.
At the end of the race, two men in a motor boat and holding a net scoop up the first duck — a blue one — that will give its owner a $1,500 first-place prize.
The winner was Gary Wilson, but Kaiden didn’t seem to mind.
There were a couple of sour faces leaving the park after the race. One little girl in particular was sad her duck didn’t win anything.
Her mother tried to explain winning is all about luck, and that there were many boys and girls who had ducks that didn’t win anything either. It’s all about fun, after all, she said.
The second and third ducks that finished the race, which took all of 10 minutes, awarded $1,000 and $500, to the respective ticket holders.
Meco Construction sponsored this year’s race.
Brian Shaw, chairman of the Bay Days Summer Festival, said profits raised from the duck race are responsible for providing many children’s activities free of charge.
He said the money also goes toward paying a portion of the closing festival fireworks show, which costs about $12,000 to pull off each summer.