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Try your luck with a five-buck duck in the Riverwalk Duck Race Aug. 16

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Above / Look for the Rubber Ducky float on the footbridge, marking the spot where the Riverwalk Duck Race begins at 10AM on August 16. Try your luck with a five-buck duck.

2-Rubber-Duck-Photo-courtesy-Tall-Ships-Philadelphia-Camden-2016Update 2017 /As luck would have it, the 2017 Riverwalk Duck Race also is scheduled at 10AM August 16. Only this year it’s a Wednesday. Details are the same as the Riverwalk will mark its 36th year on Sept. 7, 2017.

Original Post 2016 / SOS! A Big Rubber Duck will be swimming alongside the Tall Ships in Green Bay, Wisconsin, the first weekend in August, 10 days before 2,000 little plastic ducks hit the DuPage River in the heart of downtown Naperville.

The 11-ton duck, 61 feet high, goes by the name Mama Duck. She’s been traveling the world since 2014.

According to Karen Solomon, a member of the Riverwalk Foundation helping to plan the 35-year anniversary festivities for the Riverwalk, “It’s the year of the duck….quack.”

Though Mama Duck would never fit under the Moser Covered Bridge where it crosses the DuPage River along the Riverwalk, she does fit the bill as another reminder that the Riverwalk Duck Race is slated for 10AM, Tues., August 16, 2016.

Race a Five-Buck Duck!

To celebrate the first 35 years of the Naperville Riverwalk, 2,000 plastic ducks will “race” in the DuPage River from the foot bridge near Centennial Park to the Eagle Street Bridge near the Naperville Municipal Center. The race is scheduled rain or shine. And you don’t have to be present to win.

ducky-beach - Copy
The Riverwalk Duck Race begins just steps from Centennial Beach at 10AM Aug. 16.

The good folks at the Naperville Park District who never duck sharing their expert experiences say the race will take less than 10 minutes.

All proceeds will benefit the Riverwalk Foundation for education and enhancements along the winding brick path of the city’s natural treasure in the heart of the central business district.

Again, duck racers do not have to be present to win.

The purchase of  ducks (Every duck has a number), is available online only at www.riverwalkduckrace.com.

• Ducks are $5 each

• Quack Pack – 5 ducks for $20

• Family Flock – 25 ducks for $100

Cash prizes will be given to 13 duck adopters.

The first three ducks to finish the race will receive cash prizes, $1981, $500 and $250 in that order.

A $35 Lucky Ducky Drawing will recognize 10 lucky ducky winners with $35 each. Lucky Ducky numbers will be drawn at random just prior to the Riverwalk Duck Race.

Help Keep Wildlife Wild and Migrating

Thanks to Riverwalk Duck Race sponsors for helping to heighten awareness to protect the health of ducks and other wildlife as well as their natural environment.  Be happy when waterfowl migrate. The aim of the promotion is to enlighten well-meaning friends of the animals that feeding wildlife stale bread and other human snacks is deleterious to ducks, geese and other waterfowl.

Let wildlife be wild! Help keep ducks, geese and all waterfowl healthy. Don’t feed the ducks.

Duck Race Sponsors

Alive Center

Joseph A. Haselhorst, DDS

Positively Naperville

First Community Financial Bank

The Riverwalk Duck Racers have been “rented” from the Rotary Club of Oswego.

Remember! Let wildlife be wild!  No matter what pond, river or lake, feeding human snacks and bread crumbs to ducks, geese and other waterfowl is harmful to the health of wildlife and to the environment.


‘Just Ducky Race’

Here’s some fun with puns about the “Just Ducky Race” that was featured in a Daily Herald column by PN’s Editor and Publisher.


Send 35-word Riverwalk Reflections

In addition to the Riverwalk Duck Race on Tues., August 16, 2016, the Riverwalk Foundation is collecting memories that connect the community to the Riverwalk. For the next few months, the memorable reflections will be posted with stories about the Riverwalk’s first 35 years.

It’s OK to miss the 35-word target by a few words. But try and try again to hit the mark. (One-letter and two-letter words don’t count.) Please send them to stephanie@positivelynaperville.com. Thanks!

For starters… a sampling of Riverwalk Reflections 

buy-a-brick-jeff
Back in 1997, this Naperville youngster helped promote the “Buy a Brick” campaign to help fund the Riverwalk extension.

“When I first considered to move to Naperville, my new employer immediately took me to the Riverwalk to show me around. He was as proud as a new parent and for good reasons… it’s just beautiful and full of energy.”

—Geoff Roehll

“To me the Riverwalk is Everything! It’s a place of every season, every reason, everyone, every angle and every time of day and every year. It’s for walking, resting, eating, photos, sightseeing with company, playing with grandkids, greeting friends, music and arts shows. How lucky are we to have it for everything!”

—Jo Lundeen

“I enjoy looking at the river, wildlife, trees and plantings that together bring me a sense of emotional peace. Additional people enjoying the area, and the Carillon ringing, further enhance the Riverwalk’s beauty for me.

—Dick Galitz

jeff-ducky
In 2016, this same youngster continues to help by promotiing the Riverwalk Duck Race, another good thing happening for the Riverwalk.

35 Years Young

Community Built.
The crown jewel develops
a lush patina.

Watch water surging
Find sun drenched benches. Making
Memories each time.

Awakening the senses.
Music, bells, ducks and laughter
skim frozen quarries.

Brick pathways adjoin
people and commerce. Vibrant
heart of Naperville.

—Karen Solomon

I have a lifetime of great memories of the time that we lived, worked, played and raised our family in Naperville. Thanks for being part of those memories while we worked together on the Riverwalk Commission.

—Bill Epp

On New Year’s Day 1993, I visited Naperville and the Riverwalk with my cousin, Candyce Krumwiede, for the first time. While she shared the city’s sesquicentennial story, downtown’s grand illumination began to glisten. That instant, I caught the spirit of Naperville.

—Stephanie Penick

We have so many memories, but the best was when our son chose the Riverwalk to propose to our lovely daughter-in-law. Now, as a result, we continue making new memories with our two granddaughters!

—Mary Ann and Paul Junkroski

I sit on a bench along the south end of
the Riverwalk at lunchtime.

Eyes closed, ears open

Listening to the river flow

Imagining what this spot must have
been like hundreds of years ago.

—Bob Ross

For me, every Riverwalk visit is also a walk down memory lane. The Riverwalk was the backdrop to many happy summer walks with my family. I’m glad the same is true for families across Naperville.

—Jeanne M. Buddingh

We moved to Naperville in 1983. We have Riverwalk memories of REACH duck races, walks with family and friends, prom photos, paddle boat and sled hill rides, carillon concerts and Veterans Day tributes. It is Naperville’s crown jewel!

—Ron & Marcia Schild

Envisioned as a heartfelt and homegrown tribute to 150 remarkable years, the Riverwalk became and remains the iconic recreational, environmental and cultural centerpiece of Naperville, a powerful catalyst for it’s extraordinary.

—Rick Hitchcock

The RIVERWALK is Naperville. Vision, Volunteers and Volunteers and Value / Ideas, Innovation and Initiative / Generous, Giving and Genuine. These are the words made into reality in the creation of our beloved Riverwalk. Together, the SPIRIT of NAPERVILLE lives.

—John Harvard

I grew up in Downers Grove and married (Sally) into Naperville. One thing that has always impressed me is the generosity in time, labor, money and leadership that Naperville citizens show. Naperville (illians) don’t sit around talking, waiting for others to do it. I truly believe that’s why Naperville consistently has been ranked one of the best city’s in which to live and raise a family.

—John Cuff

riverwalk 2000 Rotarians

Above / Ed Channell (far right next to Rita Harvard) and Glen Ekey (between Gene Drendel and Peg Price) were chairmen of the Riverwalk 2000 campaign, launched in 1996 to extend the brick path from Washington to Hillside. This photo was taken at the groundbreaking for Rotary Plaza near Fredenhagen Park.

One of my proudest moments came when Rita Harvard asked me to chair the fundraising campaign for Fredenhagen Park. As she laid out her plan, I raised my hand and said, “Rita, I’m still tired from the Riverwalk 2000 fundraiser. Whenever I walk down the street, friends approaching me clutch their wallets or change sides.”

 —Ed Channell

What are your Riverwalk memories in 35 words? Please send to Stephanie@positivelynaperville.com and place “Riverwalk Memory” in the subject line.  Thanks a bunch!

RELATED POSTS & PHOTOS YOU MIGHT ENJOY / RIVERWALK

One more thing… 

Calling all Teen Artists! The Alive Center is holding an art contest to help celebrate the 35th anniversary of the Naperville Riverwalk. Enter a painting, drawing, sculpture, collage, anything that shows the beauty of the Riverwalk or the fun of the annual Duck Race.

riverwalk-teen-art

Come in July 25, 2016, during drop-in hours for a special contest work day.

Entries will be accepted until August 1.  Alive Center will judge the pieces on their creativity, artistic quality, and the connection to the Riverwalk and the Duck Race.  Awards will be presented for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd prize for high school teens and a separate 1st, 2nd, and 3rd prize for middle school students.

Alive Center is located at 500 W. Fifth Avenue, just west of Mill Street.

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PN Editor
PN Editor
An editor is someone who prepares content for publishing. It entered English, the American Language, via French. Its modern sense for newspapers has been around since about 1800.

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