Tūātapere Events History - Great Tūātapere Rubber Duck Race

Shared by Central & Western Murihiku Southland Archive

The "Great Tūātapere Rubber Duck Race" is a new local fundraising event for the Toy Library, that has been going since 2021, with the 5th annual event about to get underway today (29 March 2025), from 11am. So get down to Boundary Creek by the King St bridge, on the northern edge of Greenheart Reserve, to participate in the excitement of today's fabulous fundraising and social event. It's going to be one great Duck of a Race! IMAGES: 1 to 10 - from Western Wanderer Newsletter, credits (if any) are shown. 11 to 13 - photographs by Mike Goodwin of Advento Photography, 2024. 14 to 16 - from Western Wanderer Newsletter, credits (if any) are shown. Becoming ever more popular over the years, this event is a fun and quirky day out for the family, locals and visitors to the town. More and more of our local businesses are getting involved in sponsoring prizes, providing food and drink on the day, or holding events such as competitions or putting on entertainment for the crowds. It is such a great cause, so come on down! Some ways the locals are getting involved in this awesome event are below: Tui Base Camp has this to say - "The Great Tuatapere Duck Race! Join us for a quacking good time as the ducks race down the river — who will float to victory? After the race, head over to Tui Base Camp to find out the winner of the T-Shirt Competition and celebrate with us! When: 11am, Saturday 29 March Where: King Street Domain Don’t miss out on the fun — bring the whole family and cheer on your favorite duck!" Tūātapere Four Square announced - "SATURDAY 29th MARCH The Great Tuatapere Duck Race, Supporting the Tuatapere Toy Library. Join us down at Boundary Creek, King Street Bridge. Pop in store grab some snacks and make a day of it. Four Square Tuataperes race is #3 11:40am. Let us know who’s your favourite duck... and go into the draw to win some cool Four Square merch." Tūātapere Toy Library who are the ones fundraising with this event, tell us: "Another year, another Great Tuatapere Rubber Duck Race! With some new sponsors on board it's sure to be an exciting lot of races. Come between 11 and 1 to get some amazing free facepainting done by flourish facepainting. Jump on the bouncy castle and place a small bet and support the Tuatapere Toy Library while you are doing it. Good fun to be had for the whole family. Basecamp has a tuatapere sausage available on site but bring a sunhat, chair and a refreshment and get comfortable for a day out on our town." Nathalie Pahl of Blooming Boulders also gives a great update for 2025: As the founder and organizer of the Great Tuatapere Rubber Duck Races I have to tell you about this event! This is the 4th year I am running this event with my trusty helpers. And it has been a great event entertaining both young and old. We have 10 races and 1 grand finale, we start at 11 and finish around 3. The bouncy castle will be there and we have free facepainting from 11-1. The forecast is looking good and the excitement is getting real. How does it work you wonder? There is 10 ducks in each race and they all have a name. Just like a horse race. You can bet on your favorite Duck and you can win with your favorite Duck! Depending on the total bets and amount of people betting on the winning Duck winnings can sometimes be significant. Let's keep in mind this is a fundraiser, we do take a percentage of the total to go to the Tuatapere toy library. Bring a chair, some sunscreen, a few dollars and your friends and family. It will be fun! For the race schedule, have a look at the middle pages of the Western Wander. I hope to see you there! Signing off now to get my ducks in a row." In earlier years, Nathalie Pahl of the Tūātapere Toy Library, the organiser of the Duck Races, has said that these "are a great fundraiser and fun day out for all". After a successful event, which was intended to be a one-off fundraiser for the Toy Library in 2021, there was significant interest in the races becoming an annual event, and some sponsors put their hand up to do it all again or become new ones, so here we are, with the fun continuing. The locals have become very involved in the event with the naming of duck teams being a serious consideration and friendly rivalry apparent between the teams during the races. If you look through the images of programmes posted in the history entry of this event above, you will see how creative some of the duck naming has been! Its quite a laugh. See results for past events in the images here, posters for some of the events are also included, showing sponsors. If you would like your photos from past events or today's races to feature in the local Community Archive to help save and tell our today's stories in the future, for more generations to enjoy, please contact us to arrange getting us these, or send them in. Hopefully this entry will be added to as more information comes to hand. If you or anyone you know has any more information or photos to share or accounts of the Great Tūātapere Rubber Duck Race during the years, please do share this with us in the comments section. You can do this by making a comment in the space provided under the image page. Or you can make contact with us as per the archive front page.