On Saturday afternoon, floating spots of yellow, pink, blue, green and orange were seen floating down Linn Creek for about a quarter of a mile. The spots were rubber duckies, and they made a Marshalltown Area United Way (MAUW) race a lot of fun.
MAUW Events & Marketing Manager Rachel Norton said they got 557 entries, surpassing the goal of 500.
“We raised about $2,200,” Norton said.
Two City of Marshalltown employees, including Public Works Director Heather Thomas, took two laundry baskets filled with the ducks and dumped them over the side of the Emerson Bridge near the skate park.
“The Emerson Bridge is not quite open to the public yet. We’re still waiting on railings,” Thomas said.
She also explained other safety procedures and race rules which were put in place.
“What’s going to happen is we’re going to dump and there’s a good chance some of the ducks won’t make it past the first bridge,” Thomas told race attendees. “They get caught up and some go backwards. The ones that keep going, that’s great. Once that first batch gets going, the other ones that got stuck will get a second chance. We’re going to go down, retrieve them and dump them off the back side of the Sixth Street bridge. There’s a prize for that winner, as well. From a safety standpoint, we have a trail all the way along [the route.]”
Norton said the ducks had to travel a quarter of a mile down the creek. Each duck had a number written on the bottom, corresponding to whomever purchased it.
“We had some Marine Cadets down there to help catch them,” Norton said.
The first duck to complete the quarter mile journey won $100 for the entrant. Norton said they also had prizes for the nine ducks which followed.
The idea for the race came from outside the United Way in September, Norton said.
“I was approached by a city employee saying they wanted to have a duck race,” Norton said. “So I said, ‘Okay. Let’s do it.’”
Following the duck race, the MAUW also hosted the Trash to Splash Boat Dash.
“We invited kids in Marshalltown to build a boat that’s about 8.5×11, and float it down Linn Creek, built from recycled products,” Norton said. “For this first year, I would say this [event] has gone really great, and I’m excited to see how it grows throughout the years. I’m definitely hoping we can do it again next year.”
Money raised from the duck race and the boat dash is used to support 25 MAUW partner agencies.
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Contact Lana Bradstream at 641-753-6611 ext. 210 or lbradstream@timesrepublican.com.