Before we went to the Ypsilanti Heritage Festival this weekend I told my daughter about the rubber duck race which is held at 5p on Sunday. She loved seeing a large duck in the parade and wanted to enter a duck herself. The Rubber Duck Race is sponsored by the Kiwanis Club of Ypsilanti.
When we visited the Heritage Festival after the parade, we were sure to buy her a duck…after I cautioned my daughter that she would be very unlikely to win.
Sunday afternoon we made sure to end our Rolling Hills trip early enough to make it to the Duck Race leaving time for parking and walking to the river. The ducks are dropped from the Cross St Bridge and float down river to the finish line. The finish line has the orange net construction fence that funnels to the winners chute.
We started along the river near the finish line, but the gazebo blocked our view of the launch. I really wanted my daughter to see the launch, so we moved up to the gazebo. We positioned ourselves to see the launch and then moved to see the finish. The footbridge from the park to Frog Island or Depot Town would be another good place to watch the launch up close and then turn around and see the finish.
As we were waiting my daughter suddenly got worried. “Mom, I hope we don’t win the grand prize, I don’t know which parent I’d take with me.” The grand prize was a 7 day cruise for 2. I told her not to worry, we probably wouldn’t win. Plus, Dad doesn’t like cruises so she can take me. She wasn’t sure to believe me…until we got home and told Dad that she was worried. He said, she could have taken me since he doesn’t like cruises.
The duck race started at 5p with the ducks container being emptied into the river. There were a few stragglers that had trouble leaving the bin. You can watch parts of the Duck Race here:
I love the way the real ducks tried to get in the race. It was interesting to see how the current was faster on the sides, but the first ducks down got caught up in the fence and the ones in the slower current that was closer to the center ended up getting there first.
Finish Line:
After the race, they retrieved the winner’s chute and after a few minutes announced the winners. Unfortunately we didn’t win – so my daughter didn’t have to worry about picking a parent to take with her. Actually it appeared that none of the winners were present at the race announcement.
