Rotary Club’s Duck Derby Attracts Crowds to Patriots Park

Over 1700 rubber ducks were joined by throngs of spectators at Pa­tri­ots Park in Tarrytown on Sunday, June 27 for the Ro­tary Club of the Tar­ry­towns’ Duck Derby and the Fam­ily YM­CA’s Healthy Kids Day. While many spectators watched the Derby races live, they were also streamed to of­fer those who could not attend in person the opportunity to watch them.

Thanks to the lifting of Covid-related restrictions, this year’s live event was a welcome return to normal after last year’s Derby was streamed but not open to the public, and the Y’s Healthy Kids Day was cancelled.

1,741 “adopted” rub­ber ducks took part in six race heats lead­ing up to the championship race in which each heat winner participated. Adopters of the ducks winning the six heats were each awarded $100 by the Ro­tary and restaurant gift certificates by The Hud­son In­de­pen­dent. The win­ner of the championship race received a $1,500 prize for the Ro­tary.

Heat win­ners were:

1. An­dres Valde­spino
2. Rich Slinger­land
3. Stephanie Tut­tle
4. Con­nor Arnott
5. Tia Gu­eye
6. Nancy McBride

Con­nor’s duck took home the top prize in the championship derby.

In addition to the Duck Derby, the YM­CA hosted ac­tiv­i­ties including rides, face paint­ing, arts and crafts, a dance party, and more.

Sponsors and adopters help both the Ro­tary Club and the YMCA to of­fer fi­nan­cial and other as­sis­tance to char­i­ta­ble organizaitons in the local communities. You can learn more about both organizations at tar­ry­town­ro­tary.org and ym­catar­ry­town.org.