WAIKOLOA BEACH RESORT — The Fourth of July is a great day for ducks at Kings’ Shops, where 10,000 of the little yellow bathtub toys vie for prizes in the Great Waikoloa Rubber Duckie Race.
This fundraiser for the United Cerebral Palsy Association of Hawaii — celebrating its 65th anniversary this year — will reward the top 50 finishers with a duckload of great prizes for their adoptive parents.
How it came to be may not be a coincidence. One translation of “Waikoloa” can be “duck water,” as parts of Waikoloa Stream were home to Hawaii’s koloa duck. So it only makes sense that, 30-some years ago, when asked to host a rubber duckie race, Waikoloa Beach Resort said yes.
Diane Fouts, then executive director of UCPAH, had seen a charity race in Alberta, Canada, on television news. Five thousand numbered yellow ducks were dropped into a pond, each one “adopted” by a donor. As they made their way toward the finish line, to the cheers of the thrilled crowd, Fouts could almost hear the theme from “Chariots of Fire.”
Inspired to produce a rubber duckie race for UCPAH, she borrowed the 5,000 Canadian ducks, and took them to Oahu in 1989. They sold out quickly, and that first race was duck soup, so Fouts and co-hosts, the Honolulu Chinese Jaycees, decided to take a quack at Hawaii Island. They got their 5,000 ducks in a row and took them to Hilo. After another successful race, Fouts and the Jaycees wanted to reach even higher.
When they approached Kings’ Shops, the resort took to the idea like a koloa to water, and the first Great Waikoloa Rubber Duckie Race was born on the Fourth of July.
Billed as the signature event of Waikoloa’s annual mega-celebration, the race added excitement and an element of giving back to the day-long community festival which brought in thousands of visitors and local residents.
Today’s race pits 10,000 rubber duckies wing-to-wing in a competitive struggle, as they as set off across Kings’ Lake. Each hopes to be one of the first 50 finishers, and score some of the $20,000 in prizes for their hanai family.
It’s a great day for ducks all day, and Kings’ Shops will present a full schedule of family-friendly Fourth of July activities throughout the open air mall from 11 a.m.to 5 p.m. These include a watermelon-eating contest at A-Bay’s Island Grill, a shave ice contest at the Original Big Island Shave Ice Company, music by Johnny Shot Band, and special offers.
And, after the race at 3 p.m., more contests challenge the brave to a duck quacking, duck waddling and scavenger duck hunting contest — all for fun prizes and bragging rights.
To enter a contest, or for a chance to spin the wheel for prizes, preregister at bit.ly/Contest_sign_up.
Ducks can be adopted online in advance (strongly encouraged) for $5 each, or in a Quack Pack of 5 duck adoption certificates and a free rubber duckie T-shirt. For $100, duck-adopters make the Hall of Fame, and receive 40 adoption certificates and a free rubber duckie T-shirt.
Duck adoption is available online at bit.ly/Rubber_Duckie.