Sequim man wins top prize in Great Peninsula Duck Derby
Published 9:50 am Monday, May 18, 2026
PORT ANGELES — A Sequim retiree won the top prize in the Great Olympic Peninsula Duck Derby, which brought in the largest amount of money for the Olympic Medical Center that the event has earned in its 37-year history.
Walter Trial, a former consultant for an environmental consulting firm in Seattle, won a 2026 Toyota Corolla donated by Wilder Auto after his duck was plucked from a Wilder Auto truck on Sunday at the Port Angeles City Pier.
“I’m still flabbergasted,” Trial said. “It’s an honor. I’m just amazed at winning first prize.”
The drawing at the pier featured Wilder Auto trucks from which duck pluckers fished out winning yellow rubber ducks.
Trial’s ticket was part of a Very Important Duck (VID) package that he and his wife Carla Cassidy had bought from their son, Nathan Roberts, who is attending the medical assisting program at Peninsula College.
Much of the $130,000 netted in this year’s Duck Derby — in which 29,152 duck tickets were sold, six more than last year — will go toward the OMC Foundation Healthcare Scholarship Fund, which provides financial support for people who might otherwise not be able to further their careers through training.
Although their son did not use the scholarship, the couple made the VID purchase to support both him and OMC, Trial said.
“We’re 100 percent behind OMC and their efforts to educate people in the medical field,” Trial said.
He added that he wanted to issue a “fantastic thank you too all the sponsors of the Duck Derby,” including the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe, which presents the event, ticket outlets and Wilder Toyota.
He also thanked Bruce Skinner, the executive director of the OMC Foundation, who created the local Duck Derby 37 years ago, and all the volunteers who help make it happen.
Among those volunteers are the ticket sellers, who break records every year.
Gail Ralston is the leading duck ticket seller of all time, with 38,014 sold since she began for the inaugural Duck Derby in 1989.
On Thursday, Ralston sold her 37,489th duck to Howard “Scooter” Chapman, surpassing by one the record set by Bill Littlejohn of Sequim before his death in 2019. The rest were sold in marathon sessions on Friday and Saturday.
Ralston said she and Chapman, who announced the winners for the Duck Derby on Sunday, each sold some 100 duck tickets on Saturday at Swain’s General Store in Port Angeles.
The top-selling couple of all time is Bill and Esther Littlejohn, who have sold 49,389 duck tickets.
The top-selling couple this year was Larry and Sylvia Strom, who sold 2,692 duck tickets. Addison and Lindsay Fox were the second best-selling pair with 2,316 tickets. Coming in third were Boone and Amy Pearson with 649 ducks.
Esther Littlejohn sold 1,416 duck tickets, making her the top individual seller as well as the top seller in Sequim. Pam Scott sold 1,191 duck tickets, making her the second individual seller in Sequim.
Ralston was the top seller from Port Angeles with 1,124 ducks. Edna Petersen was the second-best seller from Port Angeles with 983 ducks.
The top-selling team was Wilder Toyota, led by the Strohms, with 3,600 ducks. Ralston led the second-place team, the Quackerbackers, with 3,227 ducks sold.
Duck pluckers were Sandy Sinnes and Jake Carrell, the daughter and great grandson of the namesake of the VID award, Bub Olsen; Petersen, an OMC Foundation board member; Clallam County Fair Royalty; Olly the Otter from First Fed – who plucked the 37th anniversary prize of $375 in cash out of the Toyota Corolla which was the first-place prize — Mike LaGrange from Safeway; Port Angeles Mayor Kate Dexter; Josh Chapman, Jamestown Tribe National Resources Liaison; and Dan Wilder Jr.
The three VID winners were Callis & Associates, $700; Peninsula Bottling, $350; and Gwen and Wendy Porterfield, $175. VID packages included both large VID ducks and ducks for the main event.
Among the prize winners were three who won more than $1,000 cash donated by 7 Cedars Casino. Sharon Nordmark won $1,500; James McFarland, $1,100; and Mishael Olson, $1,050.
Other prize winners, and the donors of the winnings, were:
• Casey Allen, $350 cash, 7 Cedars Casino.
• Teri Abram, $250 sunglasses gift certificate, Bec’s Specs.
• Scott Kennedy, four cases of Bedford’s Soda, valued at $250, Ed Bedford.
• Ronnie Meldrum, $200 gift certificate, Amazon.
• Poet Del Cid, one-night stay, Port Angeles Red Lion Hotel.
• Zach Holsten, dinner for two valued at $100, 48 Degrees North.
• Rebecca Barrett, $100 gift certificate, Safeway.
• Tara Lopez, $100 gift certificate, LD’s 929 Woodfire Grill.
• Robin Leonard, $100 gift certificate, Fiesta Jalisco.
• James Lidback, $100 gift certificate, First Street Chevron.
• Jack and Terri Harmon, $100 gift certificate, Swain’s General Store.
• Lorraine Wall, $100 gift certificate, Safeway.
• Ayleen Gray, $100 gift certificate, Starbucks.
• Susanne Walker, $100 gift certificate, Bella Italia.
• Rev Rick, $100 gift certificate, Moss.
• Kenneth Garrett, $100 gift certificate, Yodelin Broth Company.
• Sandy Sager, $100 gift certificate, The Rail.
• Jeff Moog, $100 gift certificate, Barhop.
• Don Love, $100 gift certificate, Higher Grounds.
• Brenda Clark, $100 gift certificate, Kindred Collective.
• Erika Ralston-Word, $100 gift certificate, Sea to Summit Charcut.
• Jeremy Drennan, $100 gift certificate, Amazon.
• Carolyn Pendergast, $100 gift certificate, Moss.
• Eric Brown, $100 gift certificate, Applebee’s.
• Josphat Kip Kendagor, $100 gift certificate, Tractor Supply.
• Michelle Boone, $100 gift certificate, Walmart.
• Monica Roberts, $50 gift certificate, Civic Coffee.
• Donna Hudson, $50 gift certificate, Home Depot.
• Jon and Jane Gray, $50 gift certificate, Little Devils Lunch Box.
• Jeanie Beckham, $50 gift certificate, Next Door Gastropub.
• Shari Byers, $50 gift certificate, Kokopelli Grill.
• Cynthia Klinke, $50 gift certificate, Hook and Line Pub.
• Scott Merideth, anniversary prize of $370 cash, First Fed.
________
Leah Leach is a former executive editor for Peninsula Daily News.
