ELLY GRIMM

   • Leader & Times

Saturday dawned clear and sunny for the 25th iteration of the Duck Race Festival, and multiple area citizens went home with some prize money.

Winners in the Duck Race were: Juan Rosales in 1st place and winning $5,000, Deanna Burkhart in 2nd place and winning $2,000, Bill French in 3rd place and winning $1,000, Adeline Sanchez in 4th place and winning $500, Becky Naab in 5th place and winning $400, Barbara Nash in 6th place and winning $300, Anahi Valenzuela in 7th place and winning $200, and the Leader & Times in 8th place and winning $100. The Lucky Duck picked belonged to Guadelupe Garcia and was good for $500. 

Rosales said he and his family almost missed out on this year’s fun.

“I bought my family's ducks at basically the last minute, and that was because my 11-year-old son had convinced me to do so. My kids had convinced us all to go to the Duck Race Festival the day before, and he was the one who ultimately pushed me to buy the ducks,” Rosales said with a chuckle. “I've lived in the area for most of my life, but this year was the first year I've gone to the Duck Race Festival, and it ended up being pretty cool. My kids were really excited about it and had pressed me about going, so we did, and we ultimately decided as long as we were there, why not adopt some ducks?”

Rosales said there were many thoughts and emotions going through his head after his duck was announced as the winner.

“I was really surprised. I remember we were standing there listening to the prize winners being announced, and they started with the lower rankings, and I was thinking 'No way any of our ducks won,' and my kids and I were even starting to head to the car,” Rosales said. “Then my name got announced and it was a pretty big shock. Like I said earlier, we'd just decided to adopt some ducks at the last minute and that was because my kids were excited about everything going on, so it was pretty surprising we ended up with the big prize. Since everything JUST happened, we haven't really talked about what we’ll do with the money yet, but the kids want to divide it between all of us. It's definitely something we'll need to talk about.”

Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Rozelle Webb said she was also very pleased with how the day ended up.

“The day ended up being a beautiful day weather-wise, and we had a great crowd in the park to take everything in and have fun. It had rained quite a bit the couple days before, and I was glad the skies cleared up so we could have everything,” Webb said. “I really enjoyed seeing all the businesses who came out and set up booths for people to visit with them – we had 54 booths out there for this year, and I was really excited with that many being out there for this year. I was really happy to see so many businesses get involved in that way this year. We had a pretty good year for duck adoptions, though we haven't gotten the exact count quite yet. We're really happy so many ducks got adopted, we feel great about so many people having the chance to win some of the prize money. I appreciate everyone who adopted ducks for the race. Overall, I was really happy with how that turned out.”

Webb added she was happy to see a big crowd celebrating the event’s silver anniversary.

“I had a lot of people telling me they were happy to see so much going on throughout the park and how much fun their kids were having running around and playing all the different games,” Webb said. “It was great seeing all the different families having fun. We also had some people comment they were surprised we've been doing the Duck Race Festival for 25 years already, they didn't know we'd been hosting it for so long.”

Webb and Rosales also offered encouragement for people to participate in future Duck Race Festival events.

“The Duck Race Festival is always a fun event to be part of, especially if you have a duck in the race. Like I say every year, you can't win if you don't adopt any ducks, so take a shot and go for it!” Webb said. “If you have a duck in the race, there's actually a good chance of you winning one of the prizes. In terms of 2027, we're still in cleanup mode at the moment, so we haven't given next year too much thought quite yet, but it'll be sometime next year when we start talking about all of that. I was glad to see everyone having fun this year, and I can't wait to get everything together for next year.”

“Honestly, just adopt a duck or two and take your shot, you never know what'll happen,” Rosales said. “This year was our first year even just going to the festival, and it turned out great. And even if you don't win, the Duck Race Festival is just an overall great day and a lot of fun for everyone. The Duck Race Festival ended up being a really fun time for me and my kids, there were a lot of vendors and games and other fun stuff going on, and I'm really glad we ended up going this year. With how everything ended up for us, we'll probably be going again next year.”

Webb also extended a thank you for all the help involved in making this year’s event happen.

“I appreciate everyone who adopted ducks for the race, and I can't say enough thanks to all of our sponsors. The City of Liberal is also amazing to work with, the Parks Department did a great job making sure the park was clean and looked nice for everyone,” Webb said. “I also have to thank the Liberal Fire Department for supplying the water for the race, otherwise it wouldn't have happened. We have a great community, and I really appreciate everyone who came out and participated in any way, it just made the day great. We had a lot of great help and business booths, and everything came together perfectly for everyone to have a great day in the park.”