Duck Race Will Be Here On Saturday

Following a tradition started more than a decade ago, Newtown Lions Club’s Great Pootatuck Duck Race will be presented in Sandy Hook Center on the Saturday of Memorial Day Weekend. This year’s big event, the 11th annual offering of the duck race, will run from 10 am until 3 pm on Saturday, May 28, centered in the park area at 5 Glen Road.

For those who have witnessed the annual splashdown of almost 4,000 ducks in Sandy Hook Center, it is a memory that will live forever. In the past, crowds have lined both sides of the Pootatuck River to watch as the yellow ducks are ceremoniously dumped from a bucket loader into the river and then traverse the rapids, rocks and tree branches, on their journey to the finish line at the walking bridge that stretches from Glen Road to Dayton Street.

Each duck has a number which corresponds to the number on the $5 ticket residents can buy from a Newtown Lions Club ticket booth (on weekends), at participating business, or, for those latecomers, tickets bought at the race itself. But don’t wait until the last minute to purchase your duck: at last year’s event, many of the potential duck race winners were disappointed because ticket sales had closed.

The ducks will be discharged into the Pootatuck River at 2 pm.

The first 20 ducks to cross the finish line will win prizes for their owners.

First prize this year is $2,000, second prize is a weekend getaway (hotel, theater tickets and restaurant dining) valued at $700, and third place is an 8GB iPod Touch.

Additional prizes this year are as follows: Fitness 4,000 gift certificate, a Treadwell Park pass, $100 gift certificate to Sal e Pepe, two-year subscription to The Newtown Bee, a Carminuccio’s Pizza gift certificate, $50 The Meat House gift certificate; $50 Gary’s Rib House gift certificate, $50 Pizza Palace gift certificate, $50 My Place Restaurant gift certificate, $50 Mona Lisa gift certificate, $45 Berkshire Motors gift certificate, $40 Naser’s Salon gift certificate, $49.95 Newtown Car Care gift certificate, $25 demitasse gift certificate, $25 Robert’s gift certificate, $25 Blue Colony Diner gift certificate, and $20 worth of Edmond Town Hall movie passes.

Bob Schmidt has returned to serve as chairman of the 2011 Duck Race.

Newtown High School student Paige Olson, 18, will be the emcee for this year’s event. Miss Olson holds the title of Miss Teen Connecticut-World 2011. She will be introducing the entertainment which will include Magic Marty, student-performers from Graceful Planet, students of Porco Karate School, dancers from Lathrop School of Dance, and a vocal group from Newtown High called The XY Chromotones.

New this year will be the presentation of a $50 gift certificate from Tambascio’s Restaurant to the person deemed Best Dressed “Duck Personnage.”

In addition, dozens of local community organizations and vendors will be available with food, information, entertainment, crafts, and advice. All forms of duck paraphernalia will be available for purchase, from umbrellas, hats and shirts to balloons and banners. Varied versions of the actual ducks that race in the river will also be sold by vendors.