Riverfest Delights Crowd
By Michael Pound, Beaver County Times Staff
ROCHESTER, PA
GOOD MORNING NEWS - You can't top the action. You can't top the excitement. You just can't top the sight of watching 1,400 rubber ducks racing upstream - that's right, upstream - on the Ohio River with $1,000 on the line.
The inaugural duck race at Riverfest 2001 proved to be a big hit with the crowd at Rochester's Riverfront Park Saturday - even after a change in wind direction forced a change in course and a breakdown in the plastic pipes that kept the ducks in check forced some last-second jury-rigging.
The event was organized by the Beaver County chapter of the Vietnam Veterans of America for two reasons, according to Bill Muns, the new director of the Beaver County Veterans' Affairs office and a VVA member.
"We're raising some money for our organization so we can set up a scholarship fund and to bring the traveling Vietnam wall (Vietnam Veterans Memorial) to Beaver County," Muns said Saturday. "And we thought it would be a blast to put on."
The race worked like this: For $5, participants got a numbered ticket. That number corresponds to a number written on one of the four-inch rubber ducks. When the ducks get dumped in the water, the current takes them through a 100-yard-long funnel - made from plastic pipe and a flexible boom provided by the Beaver County Hazardous Materials team - to an opening just large enough for one of the rubber racers.
That's the theory, anyway - when applied in the real world of river currents and weather conditions, things can work a little differently. Just after VVA members set up the course to run downstream, a breeze kicked up from the west, forcing a change of direction for the race. When the course was set up to run upstream - but with the wind - a section of the PVC pipe separated and had to be replaced with a roll of orange plastic fencing.
That proved to be successful. Just a few wayward ducks strayed from the course while the pack headed upstream to the finish line.
The sight could be described as mesmerizing. Or maybe hysterical.
"I can safely say I've never seen anything like this," said Rochester resident Joann Miller, who occasionally giggled as she watched the mass of ducks meandering up the river. "I'm not even sure which duck I'm rooting for." Rochester Township resident Dorothy Jacobs, who shared a blanket with Miller to sit and view the race, knew she was pulling for one duck - hers - to win. "I come to Riverfest every year, and this is a great addition," Jacobs said. "I just wish I knew which duck was mine."
Jacobs also said she contemplated bringing a ringer along for the race. "I was going to bring a duck with some BBs in its bottom, so it would sit a little lower in the water - I thought that might be faster," she said, laughing. "But I figured I would just get disqualified."
NASCAR fan Mark Tiberia of Midland watched the racing action with his son, Danny. How did the duck race compare to, say, the Daytona 500?
"At least you don't have to worry about your duck spinning out in a turn," he said, after carefully considering his answer. "And it looks like they're all going to finish."
Before the ducks hit the water, a team of water skiers from Seville, Ohio, tore up the river for the first of six shows Saturday and Sunday. The team, Bubby's Water Shows, dazzled the Riverfest audience with a display of barefoot skiing, wakeboarding and a variety of other stunts.
As the show's announcer, Sue Snow kept the audience involved by explaining the tricks. After the first show, she said the weekend in Rochester was just one of a very busy summer schedule.
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Once the rubber ducks hit the water, the first-ever Riverfest duck race lasted about 10 minutes. Four ducks broke from the fluorescent-yellow pack and bobbled across the finish line, bringing $1,000 to the first-place finisher. The second, third and fourth finishers received $500, $300 and $200 respectively.
The other big winner was the VVA, which collected about $5,000 to put toward its two projects, Muns said.
"This is the kind of thing where everybody wins," he said. "I'm sure the winners are going to be happy with the money, and it looked like everyone had a good time watching us put it together.
"We had a great time too," he said. "A big part of this is spending time with guys we can relate to because we all went through the same thing, so we benefit in a couple of ways."
Darlington Township resident James "Monty" Montgomery was one of the veterans who helped corral the ducks after the makeshift course fell apart during the race. The best part of the race, he said, was getting back in touch with the Ohio River.
"When I was a kid in Monaca, we would get in inner tubes and float down to Midland to see our cousins," Montgomery said. "Or we'd swim across the river to Freedom to see friends.
"That part could be tricky - if you see a barge coming at you, you knew you had to swim like hell to get out of the way," he said. "So when we finished today, I took off that life vest and dove in. Grabbed a handful of that Ohio River mud. I haven't done that in years."
Mike Rubino, one of Riverfest's organizers, said he was happy to hear that the VVA plans to bring the duck race back next year.
"Wasn't that one of the greatest things you've ever seen?" Rubino asked. "I know they had some kinks to work out, but that's going to be a great addition to the Riverfest lineup in the future."
Dorothy Jacobs's duck wasn't among the winners. But she said she plans to give the race another try next year.
"It's something that was absolutely unique, and it's so much fun to watch," she said. "I'll be sure to get my duck next year, and my granddaughters will probably want ducks of their own."
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