The 44th Annual Great American Duck Race will be held in the southwestern New Mexico town of Deming on Aug 24-27.
Albuquerque has hot air balloons, Santa Fe burns Old Man Gloom and Deming has its ducks.
Since 1980, Deming has hosted the annual Great American Duck Race. In addition to the race itself and the opportunity for everyone to participate, many other events take place this weekend in Deming: Tournament of Ducks Parade, Duck Royalty Pageant, carnival, hot air balloon rally and outhouse racing. There also will be arts and crafts, food vendors, entertainment and the St. Clair Winery Beer and Wine Garden.
There are plenty of ducks on hand and a team of volunteers to help choose a duck racer participants can call their own for the event.
While duck racing may be serious business to some competitors, the key word for the weekend of duck racing is fun. For instance, in order to become Duck Royalty, participants will be judged not only on their costume, but their knowledge of waterfowl and ability to “waddle” and a 2 to 4-minute routine designed to “impress the judges.” The winners, of course, will become the Duck King and Queen.
There will also be competitions in skateboards, horseshoes, softball, tortilla tossing and cornhole.
There are prizes for all the competitive events which already started when Jasmine Almanza won $100 with her theme suggestion of “Disco Duck Hustling to Victory!!” This year’s logo was designed by Jerran Duty and features a John Travolta look alike disco dancing duck. The theme and logo will be seen throughout this year’s festivities and will be used for judging the Duck Royalty Pageant and the Tournament of Ducks Parade.
For more information visit www.demingduckrace.com or call 575-567-3905.
