The Great Pootatuck Duck Race Is Coming

The Great Pootatuck Duck Race, sponsored by the Newtown Lions Club, will be held on Saturday, May 28, at the bridge in Sandy Hook Center. Although the rubber ducks will not be dumped into the Pootatuck until 2 pm, the activities begin at 10 am. The bulk of the activities will take place in Mike Porco’s newly developed large lot on Glen Road.

Plenty of food and entertainment will enliven the day. At 10:30, students and instructors of the Newtown Karate Academy will demonstrate their skills at the stage in the Glen that Mr Porco has erected. Eric Bagger will be singing from that stage, as well.

Magicians, musicians, and face painters will wend their way through the crowd. Mike Kerler, owner of Sandy Hook Wine and Liquor, will be hosting a wine tasting. On that day in front of the store, a man will make dog tags for people who have medical issues or for people who just want to have one for fun. In this lot there will be many booths of Newtown organizations handing information about their clubs or selling their wares.

After the ducks float down the Pootatuck to the Dayton Street Bridge, the ticket holders of the first 15 ducks to pass the goal will win prizes. Once again, the first prize is a Cub Cadet Tractor from Newtown Power Equipment, second prize is a weekend in New York including hotel and theater tickets, and third prize is a video game system valued at $300. These three prizes were so popular other years that it was decided to offer them again.

 Other prizes include a two-year subscription to The Bee and dinners at various restaurants, a beautiful Betty Christensen framed print, ten movie tickets to the Edmond Town Hall, a one-year family pool pass, two haircuts or a cut and color job at Nasser’s Hair Salon and tanning time.

Tickets, which cost $5 each, can be purchased from members of the Newtown Lions Club. They are also on sale at the C.H. Booth Library, the Drug Center, The Gym at Newtown, the Yankee Liquor Store, Dr Young’s office and Dr Gellert’s office. In Sandy Hook Center tickets may be found at Coach’s Deli, Sandy Hook Liquor, Sandy Hook Barbershop, and Mocha Coffee Shop.

All profits will go toward replacing all 411 theater seats on the main level of the Edmond Town Hall. If there are general questions about the Tercentennial Great Pootatuck Duck Race, call chairman Jerry Cole at 426-4529. Anyone who would like to have a booth should call Gordon Williams at 426-6443.