Smart Start Ducky Derby 2012 The Ducks Are Coming!

Quack ! Quack! Quack! Ducks on Garnett Street?  That is what will happen on Saturday, September 29^th when FGV Smart Start presents the 3rd Annual Ducky Derby Festival.  From 10 am until 2 pm, the event will take place on Breckenridge Street from Chestnut to Garnett.  Exhibits will include information from local programs that offer services for families with young children.  Entertainment for children will include a bounce house, slide, and several carnival games.    Throughout the morning, The H. Leslie Perry Memorial Library will offer reading programs and activities with a duck theme.  Children will also have the opportunity to man a firehouse with the Henderson Fire Department. Food vendors will be serving up hot dogs, hamburgers, French fries, BBQ, drinks, and funnel cakes.  And then the race begins…

At 2 pm the fun moves to Garnett Street for the  Ducky Derby race, with the Garnett Street “River” to be created by the Henderson Fire Department.  A cement mixer provided by Greystone Concrete will then pour up to 3,000 numbered ducks into the water where they will race to the finish line at Orange Street, with the first three ducks and the last duck winning prizes.  The first place duck is $1,000, second place $500, third place is Chick-fil-A for a year, and last duck is $100.  Individual tickets are $5 each, a Quack Pack of six tickets is $25, “They’re Back Bonus Pack” of 4 tickets is $30, plus you are entered into a $75 Bonus Drawing, and a Flock of 25 tickets is $100. You need not be present to win.

Tickets can be purchased from the State Employees Credit Union, Interiors, Dot’s Hallmark, Daily Dispatch, Lotus Lounge, any Smart Start staff or board member, and most child care programs.  Smart Start staff will also be outside of Walgreen’s selling tickets, Monday through Friday, from 11am until 2 pm. All proceeds from the Ducky Derby race will benefit FGV Smart Start programs that help families prepare their young children for success in school.

Sponsors for this years’ event are: Super Ducks-Progress Energy: Top Ducks-Chick-fil-A, Harris Incorporated, MR Williams, and Wal-Mart; Feathered Friends– Dataforge, Greystone Concrete, and the Rogers Group; and Quacker Backers-City of Henderson, Henderson Fire Department, Maria Parham Medical Center, NC DOT, Rosemyr Corporation, and WIZS radio.

For more information about the 3rd Annual Duck Derby race, see  www.smartduckyderby.com. Get”your ducks in a row” and plan to be downtown Henderson on the 29^th.