If you are looking for a fun, family friendly event this weekend stop by Covered Bridge Park for New Britain Civic Association’s 8th Annual Duck Derby & Picnic in the Park! The event is this Saturday, September 30th from 11:00 am – 3:00 pm rain or shine. There are all kinds of activities and games for children such as face painting, moon bounce, hay rides and a duck hunt. There is entertainment, vendors, gift basket raffle items and food. The entire day is a build up to the final event at 2:00 pm – a fun filled rubber duck race which has hundreds of ducks racing downstream to the finish line to see who will be the winner of the 2017 Duck Derby!
There are cash prizes of $500 for 1st place, $250 for 2nd place and $100 for 3rd place. You can purchase chances for ducks at $5.00 for one duck & $20.00 for 5 ducks. There are gift certificate prizes for the runners-up. For a fun filled afternoon, and a chance to win cash prizes and raffle items, why not become part of the tradition and spend Saturday afternoon at Covered Bridge Park for the 8th Annual Duck Derby?
Proceeds from this event will benefit the New Britain Civic Association and this year, the Chalfont Fire Company. For more information go to: http://www.newbritaincivic.org/
History of the Rubber Duck & Duck Derby:
In 1947 a sculptor named Peter Ganine submitted his design for a yellow rubber duck to the U.S. Patent Office and his design was patented in 1949. He then reproduced it as a floating rubber toy and sold 50,000,000! Although Mr. Ganine was not the first to invent the rubber duck, he holds the first U.S. patent for it.
There are hundreds of races held every year throughout the USA in cities such as Austin, TX, Chicago, IL and Aspen, CO. Internationally there are annual events held in countries such as England, Germany and Canada. It is not clear when duck derby races began, however, the purpose of the events are fundraising for non-profit organizations. The largest race in the United States is the annual Freestore Foodbank Rubber Duck Regatta in Cincinnati, Ohio. First run in 1995, the Rubber Duck Regatta now features over 150,000 ducks raced to raise money for the organization. Since its beginning in 1995 the Rubber Duck Regatta in Cincinnati Ohio has raised over $9 million!
