9th Annual Duck Race

Is In Planning Stages

Have you ever watched children enjoy playing in bathtubs with rubber ducks? With great glee, they watch the ducks race about whatever swirling motion or rocking waves they can come up with. They never tire of it.

This enthusiasm is exactly the reaction children of all ages have when they watch ducks float down the Pootatuck River in Sandy Hook during the Great Pootatuck Duck Race.

This year the Newtown Lions Club’s Great Pootatuck Duck Race will return on Saturday, May 23. Events will run from 10 am to 2 pm, and Mike Porco has again agreed to let the Lions Club use his spacious lot on Glen Road for the center of activities.

After being ceremoniously dumped from the front of a bucket loader over the railing of the Church Hill Road bridge into the Pootatuck, the first 20 ducks that cross the finish line will win prizes for their corresponding ticket holders. First prize will be a cash award of $2,000. Second prize is a weekend in New York with dinner, hotel and theater tickets included, and third prize is a Nintendo Wii Game Console valued at $332.

In addition to the major event of the day, participants will enjoy wandering the grounds being entertained by face painters and magicians or having fun on the moon bounce. There will also be plenty of singers, performers, dancers and karate experts entertaining the crowd from the stage at the park.

A new addition to the entertainment this year will be a tug of war between members of Newtown Lions Club and members of Newtown Rotary Club to be held sometime in the morning. It is hoped that local firefighters will respond to the challenge as well.

Last year 32 community groups were part of the festive day. They either sold items or handed out flyers about their organizations. Many of these folks will also be participating in this year’s event, continuing a tradition that has become a highlight for the Saturday or Memorial Day Weekend for nearly a decade.

“We’re pulling out all the stops to make this Duck Race the best ever,” promises Duck Race Chairman Bob Schmitt, who will also serve as emcee.