We walked down to Shiawassee Park this afternoon to watch the Farmington/Farmington Hills Community Foundation’s annual Duck Race. Collaborating to build a stronger base of support for this fund-raiser were the Farmington/Farmington Hills Chamber of Commerce, Farmington Youth Assistance, Farmington Public Schools and the Farmington Family YMCA. The joint effort must have done some good; more than 4,200 little ducks ended up in the water; at $5 each, that part of the event alone raised about $21,000. And this year, the number of corporate sponsored ducks ($200 each) increased enough to require two “heats”.
Those who’ve attended in previous years said the crowd seemed a little smaller, but what really counts is the number of ducks in the water, so to speak. By any measure, the event was a complete success, thanks to a group of folks from several non-profit organizations working together around a good cause. From the FFH Community Foundation’s Web site, here’s a partial list of the organizations that have benefitted from their grant program:
- The After School Program for Middle School Students
- B.A.B.E.S.
- Boys & Girls Republic
- Community Musical Group
- Farmington Festival Orchestra
- Farmington Musicale
- Farmington Players
- Friends of the Rouge
- G.R.I.P.
- Minority Student Achievement Network
- Multicultural Multiracial Community Council
- Neighborhood House
- Samaritan Counseling Center
A number of Farmington schools have also received grants, as has Pastways, my husband’s non-profit (in the interest of full disclosure). This kind of broad-based community support is what the Duck Race is really all about. But it’s still a lot of fun to watch all those little rubber ducks fall into the Rouge and make their way downstream – and most make it to the finish line without quacking up!
–Joni Hubred-Golden
Enterprise Publisher
1 Comment
October 11, 2008 at 11:48 pm
Joni,
I have to say we were very disappointed with the Duck Race (and not because we didn’t win
. The published time of the duck race in several places was 3pm with the corporate ducks at 2 and 2:15 (or something like that). My husband and I arrived to view the race at 2:40 or so to find that the race was over. The crowd was very much smaller than last year (our only comparison) and the organization seemed lacking. The winners were announced with a bull horn that you could only hear if you happened to be its direct line. There were no other vendors there and although the volunteers were working hard to serve dogs and pops, the choices were lean.
We hope next years attempt is more of an event and it would be nice if they stuck to the published schedule as planned.