The Boys and Girls Club of Lawrence County hosted their annual Ugly Duck Derby event this past Saturday at the John Lowery Municipal Pool. Thousands of plastic rubber ducks were sent down the slide in a spiral in a race to the opposite end of the pool and several lucky winners were chosen for a handful of prizes. Members of the Boys and Girls Club pitched in their time to help prepare for this event in any way that they could, including spending several hours in the past week selling tickets.
“We raised about $30,000 this year. We sold almost 6,000 of our 10,000 ducks for our Yellow Duck Race and just under 50 of our 100 ducks for our Blue Duck Race. Sometimes we sell out, sometimes we don’t, it just depends on the year.” mentioned Ashley Gilstrap, the Director of Resource Development for the Boys and Girls Club of Lawrence County.
“This single event has generated just under $400,000 in the 12 years we’ve had this event, and it was a brainchild of Jimmy Sowders. We’ve been doing the event each and every year.” added Frank Decker, the Chief Professional Officer for the Boys and Girls Club of Lawrence County.
The Ugly Duck Derby has been a popular event in the Bedford community for several years now with the first derby taking place back in 2013. Every ticket sold provided the buyer with a rubber duck to remember the event by, and they could even be dressed up with a pair of stylish sunglasses to protect their duck from the blazing hot sun.
“We love getting to see the ducks come down the slide. We’ve been doing this event since 2013 and it always creates a little bit of excitement when the ducks come across the line.” said Decker.
By the time 6:00 rolled around, the pool was cleared, the track was set for the races, and the Bedford community huddled along the edge of the pool to watch the ducks take off. Board members Rusty Miller and Mike Branham, along with Ryan Miller, who was the duck mascot, carried several garbage cans and trash bags full of plastic ducks up the stairs to the top of the spiral slide.
Isaac Williams, the Pool Manager for the pool, crawled into the slide and kept the yellow ducks from taking off before every duck was ready to race. Once the racers were in place, the lifeguard led the ducks down the slide and splashed into the water with cheers filling the crowd that congregated around the edge of the pool. As the ducks began splashing into the pool, a few scurried away from the barricades that were marked by the pool’s above water lane lines, but additional lifeguards that hopped in the pool retrieved the runaway ducks and put them back on track. The blue ducks did not need assistance as there was a fraction of blue ducks compared to the yellow ducks.
“Some of my favorite things about the Duck Derby is seeing the event happen because we spend a lot of time selling tickets, and it’s also always fun when the lifeguard comes down with the ducks.” said Gilstrap.
