Duck Race
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Supporting Estes Park Charities for 33 years and counting!
 
Join The Rotary Club of Estes Park in support of its signature fundraising event for the community and its nonprofit organizations, The Rotary Duck Race. On Saturday, May 7, 2022, the ducks will once again swim in the Fall River after two years of altered races due to the global pandemic.
 
Planning has begun, so all our thousands of fans have to do is watch https://www.epduckrace.org  for updates. The chance to adopt a duck or a flock to represent you in the race will be available in early March. Stay tuned!
 
In the meantime, here's some very interesting background on the event:
 
The Estes Park Duck Race continues a tradition started in 1989 to support the local charities of the Estes Valley. In 1989, Estes Park didn't have a United Way or any other organized way to collect and distribute funds to needy organizations in town. Then, one day, four businessmen in town, Stan Pratt, Nick Kane, Mike McDonald, and Steve Nagl were having coffee and were discussing that very issue. They were also brainstorming on ideas for extending the "shoulder season" in Estes so that the merchants could have a better business season.

Stan mentioned that he had seen a neat duck race up in Oregon and it seemed like it was a lot of fun and a good way to bring the tourists to town for a festival. Not only that, it seemed like a good way to raise money for the charitable organizations in town. Looked like a natural winner.

Mike said. "Well, we've got a river that runs right through the main part of town." Nick chimed in with, "We could start the race at my restaurant."
 
And Steve added, "The finish line could be at my place."

And, that's how the Duck Race started. From that small beginning, the Estes Park Duck Race has grown to be one of the top 5 Duck Races in Colorado and now enjoys enormous popularity with 5,000 - 7,000 ducks being adopted and well over 500 Prizes for the lucky winners.
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Here you can download the application form for organizations to sign up for the duck race as well as learn a bit of info. To get the whole quack please visit our Duck Race website or click on the Adopt Now button to get started.