PORT ANGELES — And down the stretch they come!
The 15th annual Great Olympic Peninsula Duck Derby will be held on a waterway near the Nippon Paper Industries USA Co. Ltd. paper mill Sunday.
Thousands of numbered rubber ducks will form a sea of yellow as they bob down the mill’s canal on that afternoon’s incoming tide.
The event will be held on Marine Drive just before it enters the mill en route to Ediz Hook.
About 16,000 ducks have been “adopted” by purchasers who hope their duck will be among the first 62 ducks to float over the finish line to win prizes.
Ahead of last year’s sales
The 16,000 ducks sold by late Thursday afternoon is about 2,000 more than derby day-minus-three last year, said Bruce Skinner, executive director of the Olympic Medical Center Foundation, which is the main beneficiary of the proceeds from the race.
And Skinner is expecting a bountiful final three days of sales up to Sunday afternoon’s post time, he said.
This year’s prizes total more than $25,000.
First prize is a 2004 Toyota Tacoma pickup truck, donated by Wilder Toyota of Port Angeles.
Other prizes range from cash to airline trips to restaurant gift certificates, all donated by local merchants.
Duck derby tickets are on sale through today at various businesses around Clallam County. In Port Angeles, they includes Swain’s General Store, Safeway on Lincoln Street, Bob’s Chevron, 601 E. First St., Wilder Toyota and the Peninsula Daily News, 305 W. First St.
In addition to those businesses, tickets will be on sale at Wal-Mart, Albertsons and at the eastside Port Angeles Safeway on Saturday.
$5 each, 6 for $25
People who adopt ducks get a ticket with a printed number that corresponds to a number on a duck.
Ducks for the derby’s main race cost $5 each, and $25 buys six quackers.
Ducks can be adopted up until Sunday.
Proceeds benefit Olympic Medical Center Foundation and Sequim Rotary Club’s charitable projects.