Columbus residents beware: A major duck invasion will take place Saturday at the Columbus Riverwalk.
More than 5,000 yellow toy ducks will be dumped from the old Highway 82 bridge into the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway as part of Columbus-Lowndes Habitat for Humanity’s Great Tombigbee Duck Race.
Organizers have replaced the organization’s annual golf tournament fundraiser with this new event, hoping it will garner more community involvement in the cause.
For $5, people can purchase a rubber duck, along with the chance to win cash and prizes. The ducks will “race” downstream, where they will be funneled into a chute for collection and prize determinations.
The purchaser of the first duck to cross the finish line will win $2,500. One duck per every 3,000 will be worth $1 million. If the first duck to cross the finish line also happens to be the million-dollar duck, that duck’s adopter will win the $1 million. Other prizes include barbecue grills, gym memberships, limousine rides, gift cards and more.
A free family fun day will also take place at the Riverwalk, with festivities beginning at 10 a.m. and the duck race beginning at 2 p.m.
Motivational speaker Clay Dyer will take the stage at 1 p.m. to discuss how he became a professional bass fisherman, though he has no legs, no left arm and only a partial right arm. Funds from the duck race will be used to continue Habitat’s mission of providing low-cost housing for families in need. The local chapter builds an average of three to four houses per year using predominantly volunteer labor. The homes are then sold at-cost and mortgaged interest-free to partner families who meet Habitat’s criteria.
Habitat Executive Director Kathy Arinder said without the annual fundraiser, the local chapter couldn’t exist. The more funds they raise, the more homes they can build.
Ducks are on sale now throughout the area, including at The Dispatch.
To learn more about the Great Tombigbee Duck Race, or to purchase a duck, please visit tombigbeeduckrace.com or call Arinder at 662-329-2501.
Carmen K. Sisson is the former news editor at The Dispatch.
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