BRADENTON – The 17th annual fundraising Lucky Ducky Race for Pace will take place on the Manatee River, along the Bradenton Riverwalk, on Saturday, April 11; and it’s not too late to adopt a duck, or ducks, to compete in the race.
The small rubber ducks can be adopted in the name of a competing team or be adopted without a team affiliation. It costs $5 to adopt one duck for the race, $20 to adopt five ducks and $100 to adopt a flock of 30 ducks. To adopt a dock and view the participating teams, visit www.duckrace.com/manatee.
Serving as the signature annual fundraiser for the Bradenton-based Pace Center for Girls, Manatee (Practical Academic Cultural Education), the goal this year is to have 33,000 adopted ducks participate in the race that will take place in a short, enclosed and monitored portion of the river.
Pace Center for Girls, Manatee is part of a network of 18 Pace centers that have served more than 40,000 girls since 1985. Pace classes are aligned with the local public school district and the goal is to ensure the participating girls stay on track academically and earn the academic credits they need.
The first adopted duck to cross the finish line in Saturday’s race will win the first-place prize sponsored by Firkins Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram: a free two-year lease for a Jeep or $5,000 cash, whichever the winner chooses. The second-place duck wins its adopter dinner for two, every week for a year at any Anna Maria Oyster Bar location. Additional prizes will also be awarded.
Open to the public with no admission cost, the main race will start at or around noon and take about 15-20 minutes to complete. The rubber duck race will start near the Green Bridge and end at the nearby Bradenton Riverwalk Pier, in downtown Bradenton. The enclosed race area will be monitored by volunteers in kayaks and all ducks will be removed from the river after the race. The pre-race festivities will start along the Bradenton Riverwalk at 11 a.m.
Team competition
As part of a friendly fundraising team competition, approximately 80 businesses, organizations and groups throughout Manatee County are participating in this year’s duck adoption efforts, including many businesses on Anna Maria Island.
Larger, corporate-sponsored VID duck (very important ducks) can also be adopted as part of a $400 corporate package that also includes 125 smaller ducks. Before the main race, the larger corporate-sponsored ducks will compete in their own race.
As of Friday morning, (April 10), 23,302 ducks (71%) had been adopted toward this year’s goal of 33,000 adopted ducks. The online fundraising duck adoption opportunities will continue through the morning of the race day unless all 33,000 ducks are adopted before then.
Island connections
“We get quite a bit of involvement from the Island and we really appreciate the support,” Pace Development Director Christi Haley said.
The Anna Maria Island-affiliated duck adoption teams and/or sponsors include the Anna Maria Oyster Bar, AMI Dolphin Tours, Sato Real Estate, Duncan Real Estate, Duffy’s Tavern, Wagner Realty, Publix, Swordfish Grill, Air & Energy, HSH Collective, LaPensee Plumbing, Pools & Air, Shady Lady Horticulture Services, Acqua Aveda on the Beach, Hancock Whitney Bank and Grayhawk Windows and Roofing and The Center of Anna Maria Island.
Anna Maria Oyster Bar/Oysters Rock Hospitality CEO (“Chief Executive Oyster”) John Horne and his wife, Amanda, are longtime Pace supporters.
“Amanda has been involved with Pace for 25-plus years,” John said. “It’s such a great school with great results. This program is really helping girls get back on track. Amanda and I are also co-chairing the capital campaign. It’s an $8 million capital campaign to rebuild the school on 26th Street (in Bradenton). The duck race is for operational expenses. It’s the biggest fundraiser for Pace every year and it’s an unbelievable event,” John said.
“Amanda has the Quackerjacks team (the Pace board-led team) that adopts ducks; and each of our restaurants has a team, so we have a competition between each of our restaurants, which is pretty cool. It’s near and dear to our hearts at Oysters Rock Hospitality and we sponsor the second-place prize: dinner for two every week for a year at any of our properties,” John said.
“And my nephew, Trey Horne, is on the Pace board,” he added.
As of Thursday evening, the Quackerjacks team had sold 3,340 ducks toward the team goal of 3,500 adopted ducks.
Duncan Real Estate and Duncan Real Estate owner Darcie Duncan are also part of the board-led Quackerjacks team. Duncan is also part of the campaign committee that’s raising funds to build the new school building on 26th Street West.
AMI Dolphin Tours owner Ben Webb is also an active Pace supporter.
“I support Pace because it gives girls a better opportunity for learning. John Horne got me involved a few years ago and I’m more involved this year than I’ve ever been. With AMI Dolphin Tours, we’re blessed to have such a great business and we want to give back to the community,” Webb said.
“It’s a friendly competition. I contact my circle of friends and talk to our tour guests about the duck adoptions. This is part of us being active in our community,” Webb said. “They’ve been doing the race for many years. It’s a big deal and it’s very well organized. I’m taking our big boat down there as a windbreak for the race; and it also serves as a VIP spot where people can sit and watch the race.”
About Pace
According to Pace Development Director Christi Haley, this year’s race is expected to raise approximately $225,000 for Pace, with all event expenses covered by sponsors and the funds raised through the duck adoptions.
“Pace is a school where girls can come to overcome their obstacles to success that they had in public school, or even a private school. We are a non-residential program. They come to us and they develop the tools they need to rewrite their story. They get counseling, academic training and we have a nurse on staff. We want each girl to write and reimagine the possibilities for her life. We’re giving her hope for her future. The girls stay in our program 12 months to two years and the average is around 18 months. Our goal is to get them caught up academically while giving them some tools from their counseling. We then send them back to the public schools, but we stay with them for another year,” Haley explained.
“We’re funded by the Department of Juvenile Justice and the Manatee County School Board. Any girl who resides in Manatee County is eligible to attend Pace free of charge, as long as she meets the meets certain risk factors. For a girl that’s struggling a little and maybe just needs some tutoring, Pace is not her place.”
Pace Center for Girls – Manatee is currently operating at 4030 Manatee Ave. while the new Pace facility is being built at the previous location on 26th Street West.
Learn more about Pace at www.pacecenter.org.
