Rubber ducks race for a good cause

Chris Abbott

Editor

Some ducks just float faster than others.

There was, admittedly, some luck involved in the annual ABEL Enterprises Duck Race on Monday, August 4th, during the 2025 Simcoe Heritage Friendship Festival.

It was not aerodynamics. Theoretically, it wasn’t weight, length, wingspan or height that enabled a handful of rubber ducks to lead the pack of 750 – upright or on their side the entire race – floating from overhead bridge to bridge down the shallow, meandering Lynn River.

“It’s not an exact science,” said Robyn Beazley, FUNdraising coordinator at ABEL Enterprises. “People always ask, ‘When does it end?’ I always say, ‘That’s up to the ducks.’”

Each bright yellow duck was labelled with a number, some visible from the shore, some not so much if bunched up with other ducks. By the end of the race, with dozens of people watching intensely from shore, they were strung out for nearly 100 metres.

“Edge of your seat excitement, you can hardly keep up,” laughed Beazley, who was recording the event for social media.

The first five ducks to reach the finish line, just over 20 minutes after being dumped from three recycling bins near the windmill, won their ticket-holders a prize.

The first-place prize of $500 went to Deb Labonte of Simcoe. Delilah Kauskopf of Delhi won the second-place of $300; $200 went to third-place Carrie Brimmer; fourth-place $100 went to Chris Howe of Simcoe; and fifth-place $50 to Simcoe’s Natasha Crook.

Not sure where duck No. 399 finished – or did not finish. It might have finished a ‘speedy’ Top 50, maybe even Top 10, but likely that was not the case, probably caught in an eddy, slowing down against a boulder, dragging against the rocky shore or stumbling on wooden debris. It did take an hour or two for volunteers to collect all the ducks.

If you didn’t win, rest assured your money went to a good cause – aiding members of ABEL Enterprises.

“We take them on outings, give them experiences, add to the programming at the shop,” said Beazley. “All of our members are survivors of mental health and addiction struggles, and we’ve been doing this 40 years. We used to go out, as a charity, and build sheds and things to make money, but with some changes with the government, we can’t do that anymore. So now we do fun things like this.”

ABEL programs include a therapeutic, rehabilitating woodshop program; working with their hands as they gain skills and confidence.

“The duck race has been a part of the Simcoe Heritage Friendship Festival, back when it was still just the Friendship Festival, way back in the day,” said Beazley. “As far as I know, the Rubber Duck Race has always been a part of the festival activities.”

Organizers, however, have changed over the years.

“We have been privileged to run it the last couple of years – this is our second year,” said Beazley. “It used to be 500 duckies. We have upped the ante, we added 250 extra ducks and two more prize levels. So we’re giving away more money with more chances to win.”