Estes Park Duck Race Was A Success!

Posted by Marsha Yelick 
on May 10, 2012
 
 

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The 24th annual Estes Park Duck Race now goes into the history books as a fast and profitable race for the 65 non-profit organizations in the Estes Valley who participated by selling duck adoptions.“5,713 ducks adopted today! Wow!”gushed Kris “Big Duck” Hazelton, chair of this year’s race. She beamed with pride because $108,491 will be distributed to the 65 participating organizations. 

“Whew, what a day! Well done everyone!” she told members of the Noon Rotary Club’s Duck Race Committee. “A beautiful day for the Duck Race and I thank you all from the bottom of my heart for your hard work, dedication, and commitment to putting on the best and most fun Duck Race ever!”

It took exactly one-hour for the first duck to reach the finish line in Riverside Plaza. Look for a list of the winners at www.epduckrace.org. That website also sold 920 of the 5,713 duck adoptions. That’s a 56% increase over last year’s online sales. The total number of ducks adopted this year is just 17 more than last year.

Fall River was up compared to last year and the time for the first duck’s arrival was cut in half, from two-hours last year to one-hour this year. The fastest finish was in 1997 when the first duck “flew” to the finish line in just 35-minutes.

A sidewalk sale by downtown merchants helped swell the crowd along Elkhorn Ave. and near the finish line in Riverside Plaza. “We had two full-fledged Duck Squat games, many happy, smiling faces, a touch of sunburn, cold, wet feet, warm sunshine, music and songs in our hearts, face paint, balloons, new friends, old friends, camaraderie and much more made for a great climax of the 24th annual Estes Park Duck Race,” said Hazelton.

Photos by Kris & Gary Hazelton, Doug Fox, Tony Bielat & Deanna Szuter.