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Not your typical breed of mallard, they were bright pink, blue and yellow, sported rubber beaks and moved in a pack of 23,000.
That's right — Schreiber Pediatric Rehab Center held its 20th annual Rubber Duckie Race and Festival at Lancaster County Central Park.
This year's race raised $127,000 for Schreiber, a nonprofit organization that provides education and therapy programs for infants, children and adolescents with disabilities and developmental delays.
The race part of the event was canceled the past two years because of dangerous water conditions.
Over the years, "this event grew from just a couple hundred ducks to nearly 25,000," said Debra Christoffel, public relations. With about 23,000 ducks sold, Schreiber exceeded their fundraising goal of $125,000, and bested last year's total as well.
According to Christoffel, the event drew several thousand people to the park for an afternoon of games, food and, of course, duckie racing.
Signaled by the sound of a cannon, a crane released the ducks into the river at 5 p.m., with applause and duck-bill shaped whistles adding to the excitement.
Amanda and John Stover, of Lancaster, with daughter Brooke, 4, joined the crowd standing under the bridge near the park's Chesapeake Street entrance, the race's starting point.Their son Jack, 6, a 2008 ambassador child for Schreiber, grinned and waved from above. He joined fellow 2008 ambassador children standing along the bridge to announce the race's start.
"He seems excited to be up there," Amanda said. So did fellow ambassadors Kiana Brown, 14, Mary-Katharine Roda, 8, and Dillon Rugenstein, 12.
The race lasted all of 30 minutes, but festivities started hours before the race cannon sounded.
The hub of pre-race activity was the Schreiber volunteer tent, where child ambassadors and volunteers busily prepared for the event to come.
"I've been selling ducks for Schreiber," Kiana, of Gap, said. "People almost always buy them."
Kiana has undergone therapy at Schreiber since 2005 for injuries sustained in a car accident.
"This is the first big thing" Kiana has attended for Schreiber, her mother, Erin, said.
"Every year, Schreiber picks children to be ambassadors," Ann Roda, Mary-Katharine's mother, of Lancaster, said. "They go to promote fundraising efforts."
(59) (57) (24) (5) (3) (3) (2) (2)Mary-Katharine sat at a table lined with palm-sized rubber ducks, helping her mother count last-minute entries for her family.
"The family bought quite a few," Roda said.
Fellow ambassador Dillon, of West Hempfield Township, also was at the volunteer tent, proudly sporting a light blue Schreiber T-shirt that matched those worn by more than 200 volunteers at the event.
Many race attendees and volunteers have been involved with the organization for years.
"I've been there for 16 years," said Jay Graver, director of education at Schreiber.
"I could point to 100 kids I know here," he said. "That's one of the most fun things — seeing all the kids that you've taught."
Jason Phillips, 30, of Millersville, has been involved with the organization since the 1980s.
"I grew up with the Easter Seals," said Philips, who as a child underwent therapy spina bifida. Schreiber was affiliated with Easter Seals until 1994.
Phillips sat near the shore at the finish line, applauding the more than two dozen volunteers wading into the river to collect the ducks.
"I've got to catch them as they come down the river," said William Harber, 17, of Lancaster, who began volunteering with the organization after his sister took speech therapy from the center.
Duck-catcher duties included scooping flocks of ducks with fishing nets, and plucking the winning ducks from the water. Each one was marked with an entry number, with the first 50 earning prizes. First prize was a $1,000 gift certificate to Wolf Furniture, second prize was a $1,000 Visa gift card and third place was $1,000 voucher for Rockvale Square outlets.
And while the first ducks to the finish line were not Harber's, he didn't mind.
"I've bought tickets since (the race's) 15th year. I've never won though," Harber said. "But I love what Schreiber does. It's a nice place, a good cause."
E-mail: kobrien@lnpnews.com
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