Lions Announce Date, Prize List For 2014 Great Pootatuck Duck Race
The 2014 Great Pootatuck Duck Race will take place on Saturday, May 24, from 10 am until 2:30 pm.
This year’s race features a new co-operative arrangement between Newtown Lions Club and the Sandy Hook Organization for Prosperity (SHOP). Returning to the sidewalk fair presented during the first few years of the Duck Race, vendors and volunteer organizations will display their wares and share information along sidewalks within Sandy Hook Center as well as within the park area at 3 Glen Road.
More than 40 exhibitors will participate in this year’s Great Pootatuck Duck Race, stretching from the park area to the corner of Church Hill and Glen Road, and continuing west as far as Figs Wood-Fired Bistro at 105 Church Hill Road.
Members of SHOP are planning to have special events, including sidewalk sales, wine tastings, food samples, and more.
The Newtown United Methodist Church Men’s Group will be selling food from their booth in the NUMC parking lot, at 92 Church Hill Road.
A touch-a-truck event will also at set up in the church parking lot, featuring emergency vehicles used by the American Red Cross, Newtown Underwater Search And Rescue, Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Corps, and Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire & Rescue. Members of each group will be available to answer questions about the vehicles and the volunteer efforts of each team.
The Ladies Auxiliary of Sandy Hook Fire & Rescue will be accepting donations for FAITH Food Pantry during this year’s Duck Race. Nonperishable donations will be collected, and then delivered to the nonecumenical pantry located within St John’s Church in Sandy Hook.
The Prizes
For many, the big draw of The Great Pootatuck Duck Race is the dumping of thousands of yellow rubber ducks into the Pootatuck River. Tickets for the Duck Race are on sale now, still priced at $5 each.
As in past years, 20 prizes are up for grabs. Winners will be those whose tickets correspond to the first 20 ducks to pass into a chute about a quarter of a mile down the Pootatuck from the launch point.
First prize this year will be $2,000.
Second prize is “Show and Go,” a combination of a show, hotel accommodations, and dinner for two.
Third is a mini iPod with case, valued at $467.
Prizes continue as follows: fourth, a three-month membership to Porco Karate (valued at $450); fifth, pool pass to Treadwell Park ($214); sixth and seventh, three-month membership and training session to Club NewFit; eighth, $100 certificate to Sal e Pepe Contemporary Italian Bistro; ninth, $100 gift certificate to Figs; tenth, $50 gift certificate from Carminuccio’s Pizza; 11th prize, $50 gift certificate from The Foundry Kitchen & Tavern; 12th prize, $50 gift certificate from Tambascio’s Italian Grill; 13th prize, $50 gift certificate from Salon Michele; 14th prize, $50 gift certificate from My Place Restaurant; 15th prize, $50 gift certificate from The Villa Restaurant; 16th prize, a $42 gift certificate from Naser’s Salon; 17th prize, one-year subscription or renewal to The Newtown Bee ($42 value); 18, $40 ticket voucher to The Little Theatre (Town Players of Newtown); 19th prize, $39.95 certificate from Berkshire Motors; and 20th prize, ten movie tickets to Edmond Town Hall Theatre ($20).
Newtown Lions Club members have already begun selling Duck Race tickets. Sales are usually on the weekends, at the following locations: Bagel Delight, Bottle Stop Wine & Spirits, Butcher’s Best Market, Carminuccio’s Pizza, Cork n Barrel, Dodgingtown Market, Franco’s Pizza, Hawleyville Plaza, My Place Restaurant, Newtown Deli & Catering, Newtown General Store, Newtown Hardware, The Pizza Palace, Salon Michelle, Stop & Save Liquor, Stop & Shop, and Yankee Wine & Liquor.
Members will also be participating in the 7th Annual Newtown Earth Day Festival on April 26, 10 am to 4 pm, selling tickets for The Great Pootatuck Duck Race as well as for the club’s annual Mustang raffle.
In addition, tickets can also be purchased during regular business hours of the following businesses: Bagel Delight, Berkshire Motors, C.H. Booth Library, Cork n Barrel, Dodgingtown Liquor, Everything Newtown, Fun Kuts, Hawleyville Liquor, Newtown Municipal Center (in the Tax Collectors Office), Newtown Pharmacy, PJ’s Laundromat, Queen Street Cleaners, Ronnie’s 2 Barber Shop, Sandy Hook Deli & Catering, Sandy Hook Diner, Sandy Hook Hair Co., Sandy Hook Liquor, Superior Cleaners, Toy Tree, Village Barbershop, Village Perk Café, World of Wine and Spirits, Yankee Discount Liquor, and Your Healthy Pet.
Live Entertainment Line-Up
In the hours leading up 2:30 that afternoon, when the rubber ducks are dropped into the Pootatuck River, live entertainment will be ongoing. There will be two stages this year, one on the sidewalk in front of Sandy Hook Hair Co. at 102 Church Hill Road, and the other in the event’s traditional location — the pavilion at 3 Glen Road.
At the Church Hill Road location, the schedule is as follows: DJ (and Duck Race Chair) Bob Schmidt will entertain from 10 to 11 am. He will be joined by his wife Josie at 11 am, and perform as Solid Gold Times Two, an acoustic rock duo, for the next hour. Not Too Late, a classic rock band, will take over at noon. At 2 pm, Jim Allyn, performer, music educator, and leader of The Flagpole Radio Café Orchestra, will perform.
DJ Oscar DeLos Santos will open the Glen Road stage at 10 am, followed by a performance by students of Gray’s School of Irish Dance. Members of The Newtown Juggling & Circus Arts Club will perform at noon, and then at 12:30, students from Porco Karate Academy will take the stage.
Magic Marty will offer a 30-minute show beginning at 1 pm, followed by a return of students from Porco Karate Academy at 1:30. The final act of the day will be a performance by students of The Graceful Planet, at 2 pm.
For further information contact Tom Evagash at 203-837-6151 or 203-270-0332 or e-mail thomasj11610@yahoo.com.