Rotary Ducky Dash, Two Decades Strong

Release the Fowl!! (Past Dash Pix)

Lamar Rotary held its 20th annual Ducky Dash at Willow Creek on Saturday, May 20th.  2,500 ducks were adopted by community members and business owners.  Cash prize winners include first place $750 – Mason Martinez (#1042) and second place $250 – Jim Hubbard (#2416). Five third place duck parents received $100 each: Jaime Oxley (#1046); DND RV Service (#545); Marla Hindes (#2013); Valerie Baldwin (#1214); and Deb Widener (#1070).  Lamar Days attendees and Car Show participants enjoyed the spectacle of the event, as the ducks took a quick ride down Willow Creek at the park with the Rotary mascot, Quackers, escorting the ducks. This year’s event was made more eventful as 100+ ducks made a break for the Arkansas River by going around the duck dam. All the ducks were retrieved by volunteers who pitched in to pull them out of the water and return them to tubs to await next year’s event.

The Ducky Dash remains Lamar Rotary’s primary fundraiser helps the club to reinvest in the community and youth through events and efforts including its free annual Kids’ Christmas event, sponsorship of the Lamar High School Interact Club, donations to worthy organizations, and other investments that encourage literacy and support the greater Southeast Colorado community.  Lamar Rotary and its sponsors have given dictionaries to third graders in four counties for over 20 years.

For more information how to join forces to make our world a better place, contact Judy Turpin or any Lamar Rotary member.  See the Lamar Rotary Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/LamarCORotary for more information on the club and recent activities.

We are ALL WINNERS when we come together as a community.

A-1 Rental & Sales, thanks for letting us borrow a trailer every year, so Quackers can be in the parade and escort the ducks down the creek. She’s a BIG fan.

And an ALL HANDS ON DECK thanks to Lanie Mireles’s family, Jeff & Isaiah Hillman, Brady Turpin, Buster & the Rainwater crew, Interactors, and a sprinkle of Prowers County Sand & Sage royalty. We loved that so many kids stayed to help pull ducks out of the water and put them in tubs. And the Ducky Dash WOULDN’T physically happen without our masterminds, Rick Robbins and Ron Cook.

Submitted by Anne-Marie Crampton