Who Needs The Indy 500?—

1,900 Rubber Ducks Take The Plunge In Annual Race

By Shannon Hicks

About ten minutes before The Great Pootatuck Duck Race last Saturday afternoon — an annual event during which thousands of yellow rubber ducks are ceremoniously dumped from the Church Hill Road bridge that spans the Pootatuck River in Sandy Hook — a pair of live ducks were quietly making their way up the river. Minding their own business, the ducks had no idea what was about to happen.

Fortunately they flew off just a few minutes before Mike Porco took his annual drive in a bucket loader full of rubber ducks from the parking lot off Glen Road, where this year’s duck race and its accompanying festival were centered, to the bridge. Nevertheless, the appearance of the pair of waterfowl and the timing of their disappearance on May 28 brought smiles to many of those who had lined up along the banks of the river to cheer for their rubber ducks.

This year’s event, the fifth annual offering put on by Newtown’s Lions Club, was deemed by the club’s incoming president as the best yet.

“This is exactly what we were hoping for when we started this thing,” Jon Christensen said Saturday afternoon, looking over the parklike area on Glen Road where the festival had been taking place. This year’s race and festival moved from the sidewalks and lower section of Church Hill Road to almost wholly into the park area that local developer Mike Porco created during recent years (just one group, Newtown Democrats, set their table up away from the rest of those in the park, choosing instead to set up in front of Sandy Hook Wine & Liquor on Church Hill Road).

A paved parking lot adjacent to the new park helped alleviate many of the parking issues of past years, and having vendors set up within the park’s boundaries kept the majority of foot traffic to one specific area.

Previous Pootatuck Duck Races have had booths set up at Newtown United Methodist Church, in the parking lot behind Coach’s Deli and 100 Church Hill, and in the lot at The Little Green Barn. The location was central, but it also created traffic congestion for autos and pedestrians.

This year the festival still seemed to benefit the businesses within Sandy Hook Center, but traffic flow was noticeably light for those trying to drive along Church Hill Road, Washington Avenue, Glen Road, or Riverside Road.

“This thing has really turned into something,” Mr Christensen said. “It’s in a much better spot now, and the atmosphere is even better than before. Virtually everyone I’ve talked to today has said the same thing. It’s much more festive and this is a much better spot now.”

Participants included plenty of musicians, magicians, dancers, and face painters. Also, countless Newtown organizations had tables set up, providing information about their services, and vendors offered everything from jewelry to juice, baked goods to bracelets. While the duck race started at 2, the festival opened at 10 am and drew visitors of all ages and interests.

The highlight of the festival, of course, was the duck race itself. Raffle tickets — which had numbers on them corresponding to the ducks that were to race down the Pootatuck — had been sold around town by Lions Club members for weeks. Even on Saturday, though, ticket sales were steady right up until about ten minutes before race time. George Arfaras, who was staffing the Lions Club ticket table during the hour before the race, estimated that at least 1,900 tickets had been sold for this year’s race.

Proceeds from the ticket sales will be a major boost for the Lions, who are helping the Edmond Town Hall Board of Managers replace the 411 seats on the main floor of the town hall’s theater.

“We should be able to make a significant contribution after today,” said Mr Christensen.

Hundreds of people lined the banks of the Pootatuck, counted down once Mr Porco drove his bucket loader onto the bridge, and then cheered like mad once the ducks were bobbing their way down the stream en route to a collection point at the Dayton Street bridge.

The first 15 ducks to reach that point were scooped up by Lions Club members, and then matched up with names on corresponding tickets to determine who the race’s big winners were.

Shortly after the ducks made their way down the river, Lions Club members returned to the staging area in the park and announced the winners of this year’s prizes.

The top prizes of years past have been so popular that they remained the same this year: First prize was a Cub Cadet Tractor from Newtown Power Equipment, second prize was a night in New York City including hotel, dinner, and theater tickets, and third prize was a video game system valued at $300.

Kay Ballard won the lawn tractor, Judy Sims won the trip to New York City, and Don Ferris was this year’s winner of the video game system.

Additional prizes and their winners were a $200 gift certificate from Hoffman Fuel, won by Louise Hanlon; a family pool pass from Newtown Parks & Rec, won by Mary Beth Collier; a one month pass to The Gym at Newtown, Susan Bucci; a massage at Avancé Esthétiques, won by Cindy Marino; and work by Jerry Cole Gutter Cleaning, won by Super Clean Carpet & Upholstery.

Also won on Saturday was car care at Berkshire Motors, which went to Mary Antey; a two-year subscription to The Newtown Bee, won by Walt Schweikert; hair care at Naser’s Salon, George Arfaras; two oil changes at Newtown Car Care, A. Aitchison; lunch for two at The Villa Restaurant, Dave Wilkins; a $30 gift certificate to Mona Lisa Restaurant, Fiske (no additional information available); and two cheese pizzas from Pizza Palace was also won by Judy Sims.

“This was easily the best duck race yet,” Lions Club member Gordon Williams said Saturday afternoon while helping with cleanup. Although the majority of the crowds left the grounds after the names were drawn, children were still seen playing in the two moon bounces that had been set up in one corner of the parking lot and other people were still milling around the park.

“It was great having almost everyone together in one location,” Mr Williams continued. “We had a great crowd, a great turnout, and the weather [which had been unseasonably rainy and cold in the days leading into the festival] certainly helped.”