Ducks are on sale now for the 35th-annual Duck Derby, with lucky ducks having a chance to win a 2024 Toyota Corolla in mid-May.
The event will be held at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, May 19, at Pebble Beach Park, located at Front and Railroad Streets in Port Angeles, where all “adoptive parents” will have a chance to win prizes. It is operated under the rules of the Washington State Gambling Commission.
Duck tickets can be purchased from members of the OMC Foundation, Olympic Medical Center employees, Port Angeles High School football soccer and basketball team members, the Sequim-Dungeness Chamber of Commerce, health occupations classes in Sequim and Port Angeles, the Olympic Peninsula Rowing Association, the Sequim High School leadership class, Port Angeles High School cheerleaders, and students from Peninsula College who are raising money to support medical education and treatment in Clallam County.
Ducks will also be on sale daily at all Safeway stores in Sequim and Port Angeles, Wilder Toyota, Swain’s General Store, Sound Community Bank and First Federal branches, and several other locations.
Each duck ticket will cost $7. For $35, adopters receive an extra duck (six chances to win) in the race.
For each duck that’s adopted, the purchaser receives a ticket with a printed number, which corresponds to a number on the duck. All of the numbered ducks will be placed in the back of Toyota pickup trucks, and the first ducks drawn will win prizes.
Proceeds from the event presented by the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe benefit the Olympic Medical Center Foundation, which has given more than $12 million dollars to or on behalf of OMC in the past 10 years.
“The time, effort, labor and equipment that various groups put into the Duck Derby, to make this event successful year after year, shows how each of us contributes to make this area such a great place to live,” event co-chair Bob Lovell said. “So many individuals and organizations are tireless with their donations and work in this community to help make it what it is.”
Added co-Chair Rick Smith, “It’s a pretty awesome sight to see 30,000 ducks. It’s not really about expecting to win, it’s just knowing that you’re donating to a worthy causes that matters. Winning is secondary.”
Just prior to the main race, The Bub and Alice Olsen Very Important Duck (VID) Pluck will be held, which is an opportunity for businesses and individuals, including those from outside the Peninsula who do business with local companies, to purchase special V.I.D. ducks emblazoned with their logo, for $350 each.
For more information, call the Olympic Medical Center Foundation at 360-417-7144.
