Duck Derby tickets to go on sale Friday

Published 1:30 am Thursday, April 16, 2026

PORT ANGELES — Tickets for the 37th annual Great Olympic Peninsula Duck Derby set for May 17 will go on sale Friday morning.

They will be available at several locations daily — including those of this year’s Top Duck, Safeway — until Race Day at the Port Angeles City Pier Stage, 315 N. Lincoln St.

“I think of (the Duck Derby) as leading us into summer,” said Scott Metzler, manager of the Safeway store on East U.S. Highway 101.

At 11:30 a.m. on Duck Derby Day, the Kids’ Pavilion will open and the Bub & Alice Olsen VID (Very Important Duck) Party will begin. At 1:15 p.m. will be the VID race, with cash prizes for first ducks, and at 1:30 p.m. will be the main event. The Duck Derby is presented by the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe.

The Olympic Medical Center Foundation’s longstanding fundraiser for the largest hospital on the North Olympic Peninsula has evolved from a rubber duck race, with prizes awarded to those who had “adopted” the first ducks over the finish line, to a rubber duck pluck.

Thousands of yellow ducks will be plucked from Wilder Auto trucks with the holder of the ticket for the first-place finisher in the main race taking home a brand new 2026 Toyota Corolla donated by Wilder Toyota.

That won’t be the only chance to win. Now in its 37th year, the Duck Derby will offer 37 prizes, all donated by local businesses to benefit Olympic Medical Center.

Here’s how it works: People buy tickets to enter rubber ducks in the event. Singles ducks are $7 each. An investment of $35 for a Quack Pack will allow “adoption” of five ducks, plus one for free.

The VID package is $350. Participants will get one large VID duck, emblazoned with their name, for the cash-prize VID race as well as 60 ducks in the main race and two invitations to the Bub & Alice Olsen VID Party at 48 Degrees North at Red Lion Hotel just south of the City Pier.

An expanded VID package is $700 and includes two VID ducks, 120 main race ducks and four party invitations.

VID participants get to take their ducks home.

Duck tickets will be on sale daily at the three Safeway locations — at Third and Lincoln streets and off East U.S. Highway 101 in Port Angeles, and in Sequim — Swain’s General Store and Wilder Toyota in Port Angeles, Sound Community Bank locations in Port Angeles and Sequim, as well as the Port Angeles Walmart on Saturdays and Sundays.

The foundation chooses a Top Duck for each rendition of the Duck Derby. This year it is Safeway.

“Each year we select a company or individual who has contributed above and beyond to be the Top Duck of the duck race each year,” said Bruce Skinner, OMC Foundation executive director.

“Safeway has allowed our volunteers to sell at their three stores in Port Angeles and Sequim for over 30 years, and that has led to thousands of duck sales.”

Duck Derby is the most successful per-capita duck race in the country. It has raised more than $3.9 million during its 36-year history.

Proceeds are used to purchase needed equipment and to support departments at Olympic Medical Center, including the OMC Cancer Center and Cardiac Services Department, as well as the OMC Healthcare Scholarship fund.

For more information, visit omcf.org, call 360-417-7144 or stop by the OMC Foundation office at 1015 Georgiana St., Port Angeles.

________

Leah Leach is a former executive editor for Peninsula Daily News.