The 2024 Newtown Lions Club Great Pootatuck River Duck Race will be held Saturday, June 8, from 11 am until 3 pm in Sandy Hook Center. The activities will be centered around Heritage Park, behind Foundry Kitchen & Tavern and Sandy Hook Café at 7 Glen Road.

Raffle tickets are $5 each and are on sale now. Sales will continue through June 7 at local businesses and online via newtownlions.org.

Lions Club members this weekend will be selling tickets at Bagel Delight, 30 Church Hill Road; Butcher’s Best Market, 125 South Main Street; Hawleyville Wine & Liquor, 23 Barnabas Road; and Yankee Wine & Spirits, 6 Queen Street.

Each uniquely numbered duck race raffle ticket corresponds to one of thousands of uniquely numbered rubber ducks that will “dive” into the Pootatuck River from the Church Hill Road bridge around 2:30 pm on June 8. Holders of tickets corresponding to the first twenty rubber ducks to cross the finish line will win prizes.

This year’s grand prize is a weekend getaway at the gorgeous Manor House Inn in Norfolk plus $450 in spending money. Second place is a $100 Sal e Pepe Restaurant gift card and $100 from the Landau Team at Re/Max Right choice; and third place is $100 donated by Total Mortgage of Milford and a $75 MarketPlace gift card. Seventeen additional prizes donated by local businesses and professionals are also lined up. Full details are available on the Newtown Lions Club website.

All proceeds from the Duck Race will benefit charities for the blind and vision impaired.

The Great Pootatuck Duck Race on June 8 will also feature ongoing live entertainment, games, local clubs and organizations, and vendors.