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STRUTHERS -- The Struthers Rotary Club unleashed 1,500 rubber ducks Saturday at Yellow Creek Park for its 16th annual event.
"Everybody can buy a duck for only $5," said Ryan Goist, former Rotary Club president. "We drop a bunch of rubber ducks down here in Yellow Creek. The winner of the first duck that crosses (the finish line) wins $750, and then it's $400, $200 and then there are 10 $40 winners."
The Rotary Club has been hosting annual rubber duck races for 16 years, and they were popular enough for the club to increase the size of the race and its prizes.
"We used to only do 1,000 ducks, and only give away $500," Goist said. "It's been selling out for the last two years, so now we're up to 1,500 ducks and almost sold out today, and that's why we upped the prizes, too."
Besides the prizes, the approximately $5,750 made from the duck race goes into the Rotary Club's programs, many of which are designed to support children and young people in the community.
"We're always trying to support the youth in our community as much as possible, whether it's sponsoring a summer art camp, whether that's some of the sport leagues around here or extracurricular activities, scholarships, whatever we can do to help with that," Goist said.
Aside from the duck race, the Rotary Club hosts several other fundraisers and initiatives throughout the year.
"We have another fundraiser coming up. We do our pancake breakfast, we do our Taste of Struthers and we do our Fly the Flag program," Goist said. "But when we do all these types of things, and we collect that money, it is definitely looking for different projects to fund. One of the biggest ones we do is our art camp."
Alongside the race, the Rotary Club offered a raffle where participants had a chance to win a golf cart. The club's pancake breakfast will be Nov. 1 at Struthers High School.