Labor Day celebrated with 49th annual bath tub race and modified rubber duck race
By Laura Robertson |
Labor Day took place under cool grey skies. A break in the weeks of rain allowed onlookers to watch the annual Bathtub Race without getting wet, but the Rubber Duck race had to adapt to bad racing conditions.
For 35 years running, Nomeites have cheered for their colorful rubber ducks as they bob down the Snake River. The ducks are numbered from 1 to 3,000, and buying a ticket assigns you to a duck and a chance at a cash prize. Most years, the ducks are dumped into the Snake River near Bering Air. The first three to cross the downriver finish line take the cash prize. A “wild duck” winner is also selected from the bunch.
This year, Nome Rotarians, the organizers of the iconic race, made do with the bad weather. They decided not to send the ducks on the traditional race for the safety of both the environment and the Rotarians. Instead, they hosted “Duck, Duck, Stew.”
Standing at the usual duck race starting point, they poured the ducks into an recycled fishing tote and stirred the colorful rubber critters with a shovel. They checked to make sure they were well-mixed—ducks from across the range of numbers represented on the top. At 2 p.m. sharp, each Rotarian took a turn stirring the ducks up further. Nicole Santonastaso O’Neill, dressed in an inflatable duck costume, used the shovel to scoop the ducks up about 20 at a time. She sifted them as if panning for gold, knocking ducks off the edges of the shovel until only one remained. To pick the wild duck, she dove backwards into the tote and grabbed one from underneath her.
While they couldn’t cheer their ducks on from the banks of the river, a crowd of about two dozen people still showed.
The race was canceled because of bad weather conditions, explained longtime Rotarian Charlie Lean, who traditionally captained the skiff that released the ducks into the river. Between the high water and the south wind, it didn’t make sense to do the race. The banks of the river were steep. Lean said the last time the weather had been similar on Labor Day, Rotarians had been picking ducks out of the harbor hours later.
The Rotary Club uses proceeds of the rubber duck race to award scholarships to Nome-Beltz graduates.
49th Running of the Great Bathtub Race
Earlier in the day, three teams participated in the 49th annual bathtub race. Teams assembled just before noon, gathering on Front Street at City Hall with bathtubs on wheels filled with at least ten gallons of water. The colors of their jackets popped against the dense fog.
At exactly noon, they sprinted down Front Street towards the Post Office. Team GCI—the oldest team in the mix—finished first, while the two younger teams ended up entangled with a parked side-by-side vehicle on the side of the road. After a bit of help from watching adults, they soon finished, too. Dean Hildreth with team GCI at the finish line dedicated the win to his late son Jens, who used to ‘captain” the bathtub in prior races and whose birthday would have been on Monday.
Each team received a certificate and a bit of spending money from organizer KICY’s executive director Patty Burchell, who reminded the crowd that next year marks the 50th Anniversary of the iconic race. “Get your tubs together, all you need is a tub on four wheels, four people to push and someone in the tub,” she said. “We want a full street next year, for the fiftieth running of the Great Bathtub Race.”
Bathtub Race Teams:
Team GCI (adults)
Captain: AJ Gerke
Runners: Dean Hildreth, Albert Gerke, Bea Jorgensen
Team Red (Youth)
Captain: Quincy Foret
Runners: Logan Tobuk, Gabby Tobuk, Iza Phan, Roya Tobuk
Team Purple (Youth)
Captain: Elsie Ventress
Runners: Theo Ventress, Junie Ventress, Ali Smithhisler, Paige Savok
Rubber Duck, Duck Stew winners: (unofficial results)
First duck: MARIAN HEMINGWAY
Second duck: DOREEN ANALOAK
Third duck: GARY EVANS
Wild Duck: TRACY GREGG