Thousands of bright yellow rubber ducks are now ready for adoption.
The 15th annual Great Olympic Peninsula Duck Derby will be held May 23 and will feature an array of rubber ducks bobbing in the water, hoping to win prizes for their adoptive parents.
People who adopt ducks are given a ticket with a printed number which corresponds to a number on “their” duck.
Ducks for the main event cost $5 each, and $25 buys six quackers.
Ducks can be “adopted” through May 23.
On race day, ducks are dumped into Nippon Paper Industries USA Co. Ltd. canal in Port Angeles, and the “parents” of the first 62 ducks to float over the finish line first win prizes.
This year organizers have 62 prizes totaling more than $25,000 to offer winners.
Each duck purchased gives racers the opportunity to win a 2004 Toyota Tacoma pickup — the grand prize — courtesy of Wilder Toyota of Port Angeles.
Proceeds benefit Olympic Medical Center Foundation and Sequim Rotary Club’s charitable projects.
“I think the main reason to purchase a duck is that it supports two very worthwhile causes,” said Bruce Skinner, executive director of Olympic Medical Center Foundation.
Skinner said foundation officials will use proceeds to purchase medical equipment for patients.
Tickets for ducks can be purchased from the Peninsula Daily News’ Port Angeles offices at 305 W. First St.