Kids pluck ducks for Boys and Girls Club
It's hard to avoid getting soaked when you're running through a fountain containing 11,000 rubber ducks, trying to get your hands on one as others fly into the air around you, propelled by numerous streams of water.
Just ask the 20 kids who did just that Saturday at the Duck Pluck, an annual fundraiser for the Boys and Girls Club of Elgin.
The Duck Pluck is the Boys and Girls Club's biggest annual fundraiser. Hundreds paid $5 each to adopt a duck. If your duck is chosen, you win a prize.
Like last year, this year's grand prize was a Chevrolet Aveo from Biggers Chevrolet. John Kent of Elgin won the compact car this year.
Susan Angell-Case, co-chair of the Duck Pluck, said the event pulls in about $25,000 to $30,000 each year for the club, which offers after-school programs to kids to help boost their academic success and keep them off the streets.
This was the second year for the Duck Pluck. Traditionally held as a race along the Fox River, high water last year forced organizers to move the event to Festival Park.
Angell-Case said the Boys and Girls Club would probably stick with the new format.
"This is much easier in terms of maintenance hours," she said, pointing out it's an all-volunteer event.
It was also the second time around for Duckapalooza, a lineup of bands that played from noon to 10:30 p.m. This year's lineup featured Kashmir, a Led Zeppelin tribute band, as well as a battle of the bands.
"We tried to expand our music so it appeals to everybody," Angell-Case said.
Joel Chmielak of Streamwood attended the Duck Pluck for the first time Saturday with his 3-year-old twin boys. Chmielak adopted two ducks and watched his boys collect the birds in plastic bins after the event ended.
"It's a great idea," Chmielak said. "Anything to help the kids."
While his boys weren't involved in the Boys and Girls Club yet, "the might be after today," he said.
Mary Aguilar of Elgin and Roger Pyzyna of Glen Ellyn came to watch the kids.
"I consider it ... anti-gang," Aguilar said of the Boys and Girls Club. "If the Boys and Girls Club is doing it, I'll usually buy a few ducks," the Gifford Park resident said.