Duck Race and Family Day Event
Posted by Sheryl OConnor
on Jun 12, 2012
Duck Race and Family Day Event a Resounding Success
Sunday June 10, 2012 brought perfect weather to East Hartford's Martin Park, site of the EHRC's Duck Race and Family Day Event. EHRC and Interact members and their families and friends gathered early to set up tables, chairs, tents, a bouncy, and food and drink stations. The Corporate Duck display grew as decorated ducks arrived and took their places for voting. DG Sue and President Peter arrived and the Literacy Walk was planned out and constructed and a Rotary Information tent was erected and stocked. Stu Harris, Alex Wisz and John O'Connor were down by the river in waders setting up the finishing gate and completing the final duck tests. The DJ set up and started to serenade us at noontime, Bob Buettner, Marc Glass and Brian Liss opened the ticket sale table, guests appeared with children and the festivities began!
At 1:30 folks started making their way down to the starting bridge on Hillside, the front end loader was readied and traffic stopped and Dan Larson MC'd the start of the race promptly at 2:00 PM. The ducks were off! It was an exciting race, watched closely by people walking the path and anxiously awaiting the appearance of the ducks down the home stretch. As ducks piled up on the floating PVC gates, the crowd held its breath to see which duck would make it through to the gate first, second and third. Pulling out (or rather twirling) at the last minute, Kevin Liner of South Windsor's duck swam into the gate first for the $1,000 prize, followed closely by Waterbury's Nelson Viega and East Hartford's Ted Marina's ducks for $750 and $500 respective prizes.
The crowd cheered and made its way back to the pavilion where the winners were annouced for "Best Duck in Show", ably won by Nursing Services Inc of East Hartford, Yvette Roming's company, and the three race awardees. Rotarian and Mayor Marcia Leclerc and Ray Hernandez from Pratt & Whitney, the major sponsor of the event, helped with the award presentations.As the festivities ended, the clean up work began. Stu Harris and wife Madeline kayaked down the river picking up stray ducks, EHRC members and spouses along with Interact members from CIBA and EHHS washed, dryed and sorted what we hope were 3,000 ducks, soon to be returned to the Rotary Club of Westport for their race on June 30th.
Many, many thanks to all the volunteers who made this event so successful and to the individuals and companies who supported our effort: Pratt & Whitney, D'Esopo Funeral Home, Buettner Florist, Coca-Cola Bottling Co, Goodwin College, Central Sealing & Paving, and the Town of East Hartford Public Works, Parks & Rec, Police and Fire Departments. All proceeds will go to support worthy charities in the community and beyond. For additional photos of the race and event, see the Photo Album link at the top of this homepage.
Sunday June 10, 2012 brought perfect weather to East Hartford's Martin Park, site of the EHRC's Duck Race and Family Day Event. EHRC and Interact members and their families and friends gathered early to set up tables, chairs, tents, a bouncy, and food and drink stations. The Corporate Duck display grew as decorated ducks arrived and took their places for voting. DG Sue and President Peter arrived and the Literacy Walk was planned out and constructed and a Rotary Information tent was erected and stocked. Stu Harris, Alex Wisz and John O'Connor were down by the river in waders setting up the finishing gate and completing the final duck tests. The DJ set up and started to serenade us at noontime, Bob Buettner, Marc Glass and Brian Liss opened the ticket sale table, guests appeared with children and the festivities began!
At 1:30 folks started making their way down to the starting bridge on Hillside, the front end loader was readied and traffic stopped and Dan Larson MC'd the start of the race promptly at 2:00 PM. The ducks were off! It was an exciting race, watched closely by people walking the path and anxiously awaiting the appearance of the ducks down the home stretch. As ducks piled up on the floating PVC gates, the crowd held its breath to see which duck would make it through to the gate first, second and third. Pulling out (or rather twirling) at the last minute, Kevin Liner of South Windsor's duck swam into the gate first for the $1,000 prize, followed closely by Waterbury's Nelson Viega and East Hartford's Ted Marina's ducks for $750 and $500 respective prizes.
The crowd cheered and made its way back to the pavilion where the winners were annouced for "Best Duck in Show", ably won by Nursing Services Inc of East Hartford, Yvette Roming's company, and the three race awardees. Rotarian and Mayor Marcia Leclerc and Ray Hernandez from Pratt & Whitney, the major sponsor of the event, helped with the award presentations.As the festivities ended, the clean up work began. Stu Harris and wife Madeline kayaked down the river picking up stray ducks, EHRC members and spouses along with Interact members from CIBA and EHHS washed, dryed and sorted what we hope were 3,000 ducks, soon to be returned to the Rotary Club of Westport for their race on June 30th.
Many, many thanks to all the volunteers who made this event so successful and to the individuals and companies who supported our effort: Pratt & Whitney, D'Esopo Funeral Home, Buettner Florist, Coca-Cola Bottling Co, Goodwin College, Central Sealing & Paving, and the Town of East Hartford Public Works, Parks & Rec, Police and Fire Departments. All proceeds will go to support worthy charities in the community and beyond. For additional photos of the race and event, see the Photo Album link at the top of this homepage.