The Rotary Club of Niwot gets its ducks in a row

When The St. Vrain Rotary Club of Longmont merged with the Rotary Club of Niwot 18 months ago, in addition to members uniting - their fundraising events also combined.

One of those events was the annual duck race in Longmont which was the main fundraiser of the former St. Vrain club. Now the duck race is being organized by The Rotary Club of Niwot and will take place on July 9th at 6 p.m. at Longmont's annual Rhythm on the River festival where thousands of little rubber ducks float down the river on about a one-eighth-mile stretch.

If you have a ticket that matches one of the first three ducks, you will win $500, $1000, or $2000.

Packets of tickets can be purchased at High Plains Bank, 600 Kimbark St. in Longmont, and individual tickets can be purchased from local Rotarians Deb Fowler and Kamla Chopra at their offices in Niwot 136 2nd Ave. There is a suggested donation of a minimum of $5 per duck.

There is also an opportunity for other nonprofits to get involved. Any organization (not an individual) that is local to the Longmont area and uses its funds to assist local community activities can pick up packets of 25 tickets and pay just $25, but sell them for much more with the charity retaining the profit.

Niwot rotarians gathered last week at Steven Craig's home to prepare for the duck race, which involved counting and sorting 5,000 rubber ducks to ensure each had a correct number and there were indeed 5000 ducks numbered 1- 5000. Event leader Jeff Martin had a proven system where ducks were sorted by the 1,000s in numbered baskets and a bingo-style grid was used to manually cross check that they were all numbered.

Incoming President Mary Colwell said, "It was fun for the Niwot rotarians to get together for a Thursday social and do something productive for the community. We are looking forward this to becoming an annual event for the club - it is so much fun and raises a lot of money."

More information can be found at duckrace@niwotrotary.org