Rubber ducks took center stage as the Rotary Club of Ponte Vedra partnered with Learn to Read of St. Johns County to hold its annual Rubber Duck Race May 22.
The event raised about $20,000, with $12,000 of that donated to Learn to Read of St. Johns County, while the remaining amount goes toward benefiting other local charitable organizations the Rotary Club of Ponte Vedra is associated with.
Roughly 3,000 rubber ducks were dumped from a frontend loader off of the County Road 210 bridge near Palm Valley Outdoors Bar & Grill.
“As the ducks were being dumped, I was looking around and every person from the restaurant was out on the deck watching it take place,” said Joe Cinney, executive director at Learn to Read of St. Johns County.
Although the event has been going on for eight years, it was only the second year to be held at that location, after previously taking place on the lazy river at Nocatee Splash Waterpark.
Cinney thanked Palm Valley Outdoors for supporting the event, along with the other local businesses that helped by presenting prizes that were awarded to the public.
“The whole thing takes about nine months of planning and logistics that have to be in place,” said Gary Smith, the club’s event chair for the race.
According to Smith, it was quite a sight to see thousands of rubber ducks cascading off the 85-foot-tall bridge into the intracoastal.
“That was my vision for this event when we started thinking about the move three years ago,” Smith said. “Rotary began helping Learn to Read put on the event four years ago.”
After hitting the water, the ducks floated down the intracoastal with help from the current toward the finish line.
According to Cinney, the top 30 finishers received prizes, with this year’s top prize being a pair of roundtrip tickets to anywhere Southwest Airlines flies to.
Although it rained some as setup for the event was taking place, the rain held off and the weather conditions became ideal for the drop and the race.
