18,000 ducks are prepared individually for Saturday’s race
18,000 ducks will float the river on Saturday, but where do these ducks come from? Well, the duck workshop!
“I like working on the ducks because it helps everybody here in our community,” said Development Workshop Program Participant, Melody Porter.
For one week out of the year around 40 program participants at the Development Workshop prepare the ducks for the big race.
“We receive the ducks from the last race they did, we go through and take all of their stickers off, and then we put our stickers on, so one duck at a time, 18,000 times, and we’ll be all ready for Saturday,” said President and CEO of the Development Workshop, Mike O’Bleness.
128 blue totes filled with ducks have been sorted through by diligent workers at the Development Workshop for the last twenty years.
“I like the stickers and I like ducks and its good money,” said Development Workshop Program Participant, Craig Johnson.
The program participants usually work on different products like tape dispensers and flashlight, they look forward to this duck filled week every year.
“The ducks are so fun and it’s a lot of fun to take off the duck stickers,” said Development Workshop Program Participant, Natalie Stevens.
Once all 18,000 stickers have been removed and replaced with the new ones, the ducks are then placed in a giant dumpster that is used to dump the ducks on the river the day of the race.
“And then after the race is over we collect all the ducks up after the race, and we put them back in these blue totes and then ship them out to their next race,” said O’Bleness.
Preparing the ducks for the race definitely takes some concentration and attention to detail, but at the end of the day, it’s all for a great cause.
Ducks can be adopted online or at sponsor locations including Idaho Falls Cars & Trucks, Idaho Central Credit Union, Idaho Falls Visitor’s Center, Blacker’s or Pinecrest Golf Course.
All the proceeds from the duck race go to the Green Belt.