'Kid-friendly' duck race turns Naperville Riverwalk into grandstands
For 12 minutes Wednesday morning, the DuPage River in Naperville was a racecourse, the Riverwalk its grandstands.
Rubber ducks of blue, pink and yellow swam - some of them speedily, others sluggishly - down maybe a quarter-mile of the waterway in search of a first-place finish and a stash of prize money.
A total of 1,471 ducks entered the race, adopted by Riverwalk supporters whose fees made a roughly $5,000 donation to the Riverwalk Foundation to support the path.
On the day before many Naperville schoolchildren, at least those in Naperville Unit District 203, head back to the classroom for a new year, families used the second annual Riverwalk Duck Race as an excuse to get outside.
And while the river was a raceway, Elaine Brown of Naperville became a play-by-play announcer, tracking the ducks as they traveled from the footbridge in Centennial Park east to the bridge at Eagle Street. Without a duck in the race herself, she remained objective as three blue birds, adopted by Jackie Boyd of Naperville, Cathy Frendreiss of Lisle and Diane Galloway of Roselle, finished first, second and third.
Boyd won $1,981 in prize money, signifying 1981, the year the Riverwalk was created.
Money raised from the second annual duck race will help fund Riverwalk enhancements and education efforts to remind visitors not to feed the living ducks and geese that also stroll the river's shores, said Arlene Bankemper, treasurer of the Riverwalk Foundation.
The event's appeal was in its family friendliness as a way to spend part of the last morning before school and support a beloved city amenity, she said.
"So many people make this family time here," Bankemper said. "It's such a kid-friendly place."