Three lucky ticket holders are now holding cash after winning this year’s VFL Duck Race drawing. During an event at the Clarkesville gazebo on Saturday, Clarkesville Mayor Barrie Aycock drew the names of this year’s winners. They are:
1st Place $1,000 – Sally and Rich Baker of Clarkesville
2nd Place $500 – Steven Serrano of Cornelia
3rd Place $250 – Harrison Lovell, a junior at the University of North Georgia, Oakwood Campus.
Aycock drew the three winning tickets from a pool of approximately 1,000 sold for the fundraiser. The drawing was held instead of the annual rubber duck race down the Soque River due to concerns about COVID-19.
Saturday’s event was the 9th annual rubber duck race fundraiser for Volunteers for Literacy of Habersham County (VFL), which supports literacy programs for people of all ages.
A recent addition to the fundraiser is the DecADuck Contest which started three years ago. Sponsoring businesses decorate large rubber ducks and compete for bragging rights in four categories. This year, 18 area businesses entered the competition. Carolyn Gaik, Alta Moseley, and Ron Coker judged the entries for Best All-Around, Most Creative, and Best Book/Literature theme. Here are their picks:
Best All-Around
1st Place – Morito Scovill “Inspector Grommet”
2nd Place – Windstream Kinetic – “First Day of Online School”
3rd Place – Springer Mountain Farms – “Rub a Dub Dub One
Chick in a Tub”
Most Creative
1st Place – Elizabeth & Co. – “Night of the Dead”
2nd Place – Morito-Scovill – “Inspector Grommet”
3rd Place – North Main Credit Union – “Be a Happy Camper –
Get S’More Money from North Main Credit Union”
Best Book/Literature Theme
1st Place – Morito-Scovill – “Inspector Grommet”
2nd Place – A to Zinc Health Store and Smoothie Bar – “Eeyore
‘Thanks for noticin’ Me.'”
3rd Place – North GA Technical College – “The Mad Hatter &
Friends”
The public selected the winner of the People’s Choice award through online and in-person voting. Morito-Scovill Americas’ “Inspector Grommet” won with 175 votes. The second-place winner, United Community Bank’s “Thank you to our First Responders and Frontline Workers” won second place with 126 votes, and A to Zinc’s “Eeyore” was the third favorite with 111 votes.
The duck race and DecADuck contest are VFL’s biggest fundraisers and normally are scheduled to coincide with Clarkesville’s Mountain Laurel Festival. The festival was canceled this year, but organizers are planning for its return in 2021.
“We are so thankful for all the support we have gotten from sponsors, supporters, and those who purchased duck race tickets during such a difficult time,” says VFL Director Phylecia Wilson. “We will be back next year when we will be planning for a race down the Soque as in the prior eight years.”
To view more of this year’s DecADuck entries, visit VFL Habersham on Facebook.
