You can almost hear them quacking their readiness to race. Thousands of little yellow rubber ducks are groomed and ready for their television debut on Saturday, May 1, when the race will be live-streamed on TDS Channel 8/108 – The Rocky Mountain Channel, YouTube and Facebook. But most important to the little ducks is getting adopted in time for their big swim at the Estes Valley Community Center.
More than 60 Participating Organizations are as excited for the Duck Race as the ducks. These school and community groups and nonprofits rely on the annual event to raise funds for their organizations, to help them feather their financial nests and carry out their philanthropic missions.
Larry Williams, Rotary Duck Race Festival organizations committee chairman, encourages residents, near and far, to adopt ducks and select an organization that will benefit from the purchase. For every duck adopted for $20 (plus and $2 handling fee), $19 will fly directly back to the organization chosen by the adopter.
“The Duck Race is very important to all of the Participating Organizations,” Williams stressed. “For some, it covers a major part of their budgets. For others, it’s merely a supplement to their budget, but still very important.”
Williams said that the Participating Organizations look forward to the annual fall opening of the application period for the Duck Race. To keep the organizations in the information loop, Williams sends out weekly Duck Adoption updates, which helps them track their success.
“The 65 Participating Organizations provide a lot of support to the community in so many ways. We are proud to sponsor the 33rd Rotary Duck Race to help these groups survive and thrive,” Williams said.
The process of adopting a duck or a flock is as easy as logging onto https://www.epduckrace.org/adopt-ducks/. All adoptions are being handled online.