Duck Race is Saturday!
The Rotary Club of Daniel Island and other participating Rotary Clubs in the Charleston area will hold the tenth annual Charity Duck Race on Saturday, June 4 on Daniel Island. Established by the Rotary Club of Daniel Island in 2007, this fundraising event has grown each year since and now includes seven other Rotary Clubs in the greater Charleston area: Goose Creek; Johns Island; Mt. Pleasant; North Charleston Breakfast; North Charleston Lunch; St. Andrews (West Ashley); and Summerville.
The Duck Race will once again take place around Children’s Park at the end of River Landing Drive. Fun for the entire family begins at 9 a.m., with music, face painting, jump castles, games, and other activities for children. Food and beverages, including limited alcoholic beverages, will be available for purchase.
New to the Duck Race this year is a “Duck Beauty Contest,” sponsored by Black Tie Music Academy. Black Tie’s youth students will decorate rubber ducks for display and prizes. Local sports team mascots Charlie the River Dog, Stingray’s Cool Ray, and the Battery’s Cannonball will also make appearances. And the Coastal Carolina Corvette Club will roll 15 to 20 beauties up onto the lawn, and a few local car enthusiasts will be showing their classics.
The duck drop will occur at around 11 a.m.; and duck race winners announced around noon. Food and beverages are available for purchase from Daniel Island Grill and several cold snack vendors.
The proceeds from this event are used to fund Rotary community service programs locally and around the world. Each of the participating Rotary clubs is designating one or more lowcountry charities as named beneficiaries of the duck race. These charities represent a wide selection of local nonprofit organizations focused on health, food and nutrition, housing, children and families, and literacy. Over the past eight years, this event has raised over $1,000,000 for local beneficiaries and Rotary projects worldwide.
For a donation of $10 per duck, adopters are assigned adorable little racers. At 11 a.m. on race day, 30,000 rubber ducks – including those with numbers of adoption - will be dropped into the Wando River from I-526 and race to the finish line at the dock near Children’s Park.
In recognition of this 10th Annual Rotary Charity Duck Race, the first faux fowl across the finish line will win $10,000 for the person who adopted that lucky duck. Those who adopted the next ten ducks (places two through 11) will each win $1,000.
Ducks may be adopted for a donation of $10 from a Rotarian, at the duck race site on Daniel Island on June 4, and online a www.charlestonduckrace.com.