Monday, August 25, 2025
2025 Gowanda Ducky Derby
[photo] Members of local fire companies along the finish line await the arrival of the bulk of the derby ducks.
On Sunday, August 24, the annual Ducky Derby event was held in Gowanda. After using the new amphitheater at Gateway Park for spectator seating the past couple years, the race was relocated to Creekside Park for 2025. Gowanda’s Community Watch group added to the event by hosting a Community Picnic at the same location.
Community Watch volunteers gave out hot dogs and hamburgers to attendees while also accepting donations towards future activities. Several other local groups also set up booths during the event. Additionally, there was a duck mascot on hand plus horse rides in the park for the children. Despite some gloomy skies at noon, and a couple of rain drops, the skies cleared as predicted going into the afternoon.
[photo] A raft, with the duck mascot onboard, prepares to head upstream with the ducks prior to the start of the race.
The picnic began at noon while race goers were arriving for the 2 pm main event. Members of local fire companies were on hand to manage the derby. At race time, along with the duck mascot, two fire department members took two bins of derby ducks upstream to the starting point for the race. After releasing the ducks, the raft cruised back to the finish line to prepare for the arrival of the ducks there. Fortunately for race officials, the first five ducks managed to separate themselves from the pack (and each other) quite well making it very easy to determine the first five finishers. The finish line crew had to work a bit faster collecting and calling out the next few arrivals which came in with less space between them. After ten places had been called out, the finish line crew reverted to collection duties picking up the remaining duck to race another day.
Winning ducks were:
1st Place [$200] #380 “Tommy” owned by Thomas Bartlett II
2nd Place [$150] #410 “Duke 2” owned by Jim Galati
3rd Place [$50] #389 “Peanut” owned by Ason Offhaus
4th Place [$50] #204 “Joey” owned by Mark C. Burr
5th Place [$50] #395 “Dustin” owned by Elliott Bernard
6th Place [$50] #432 “Jackson” owned by Donna Byroads
7th Place [$25] #115 “Chucky 9” owned by Charlie Smith
8th Place [$25] #212 - unnamed - owned by Darlene Stark
9th Place [$25] #398 “Hillbilly” owned by James Kittle
10th Place [#25] #15 “frodo” owned by Fred Davis