Ducks and Lions and River Rats, Oh, My!

They’re fast, yellow, and with the help of The Newtown Lions, getting ready for another trip down the Pootatuck River.

On Saturday May 28th, downtown Sandy Hook will be transformed into an all-day festival with music, dancing, clowns, and more on the Main Stage. Businesses offer bargains and deejays spin tunes.

Then at 2:30, a Lions flanked tractor lumbers down Glenn Road and onto a bridge on Church Hill, where it dumps thousands of individually numbered rubber ducks into the Pootatuck River. The ducks bump and bop their way down brisk waters for a mile or so. The first 20 to cross the frothing finish line snag lucky ticket holders sweet prizes.

This year’s first place winner will win two thousand dollars. Other prizes include a $400 gift card, a $200 Ticketmaster gift certificate, an Xbox Game Station, a three-month membership to Porco Karate Academy, as well as gift certificates to The Villa, Figs, Newtown Care Care and The Toy Tree.

Duck adoption certificates are available from Lions around the region. (Four-year-old Ysa Ashe, pictured above, was all too happy to give a duck a good-luck hug when her mom bought her a ticket outside Franco’s Pizza & Pasta on Friday night.) Tickets will also be available at the festival. Those who take a chance and donate need not be present to win.

This marks the 16th year of the Duck Race and most of the “participants” are veterans. According to Duck Race coordinator, Lion Kevin Corey, “the same ducks are used every year. We sort them in April and only replace ducks that are damaged or if a specific number has been lost in action!” These MIAs are few, thanks to meticulous cataloguing by such Lions as Bob Schmidt, Jon Christiansen, and George Arfaras.

How speedily the ducks rush downriver is entirely up to recent snowmelt and rains. Yet even on years when the river has been low, “about 90-95% of the ducks reach the finish line,” said Lion Corey. “But only the first 20 win a prize.”

After the prizes are rewarded, more fun awaits certain Lions. “The ducks that reach the finish line are collected in large plastic garbage bins,” Corey explains.

And the strays? “We have a crew of Lions called The River Rats! They walk the whole river in search of ducks that have gotten stuck on the rocks or in slow-moving water. The water is cold and the rocks on the bottom are very slippery, so they must walk with a stick or risk falling.”

It’s all worth the effort, according to Corey and his fellow Lions. All proceeds from the Duck Race will go to the ongoing funding of local charities.