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Get ready for a quack attack! The 2021 Great Farmville Duck Derby

Got your ducks in a row? It’s that time of year, and the race is on!

Piedmont Senior Resources has been hard at work organizing the 2021 Great Farmville Duck Derby. Canceled last spring because of COVID-19, the Duck Derby is back this autumn and is one of the kickoff events for the 2021 Heart of Virginia Festival. You’ll find our ducklings racing to the finish line beginning at 6 p.m. Sept. 17 at Riverside Park. A joint effort among Piedmont Senior Resources, the Heart of Virginia Festival and the Farmville Jaycees Live @ Riverside concert series, the Duck Derby is a fun, unique fundraiser designed to support the older adults in our community. 

Originally a signature fundraiser of the United Way of Prince Edward County, the Duck Derby is now executed exclusively by PSR. We jumped at the opportunity to continue this tradition, and we couldn’t be more thrilled! What better way to help your neighbors? All Duck Derby proceeds stay in the seven-county area so PSR can offer more services to our older adult clients. 

​Want to be a part of the fun? It’s easy. First, duck your friends! Then, adopt some ducks and come down to the derby to enjoy live music, food and beverages on the waterfront — and to cheer on your paddlers!

Duck your neighbor!

Support your community. Anyone can help spread the word about our fundraiser by ducking a friend or neighbor! For $20, PSR will place four wooden ducks in someone’s yard to bring awareness to the derby. Your neighbors will wake to a flock of feathered friends outside their door. Who knows? Maybe they’ll pass it on!

Become a sponsor

Does your local business want to help? Become a sponsor. Available at multiple levels, from the Baby Duck level of $50 up to the Launchpad Duck level of $3,000 (with Dewey, Huey, Daisy and Donald levels in between), sponsorships bolster our fundraising efforts, allowing us to reach more community members.

Enter the Derby

Purchase ducks for $5 a quack! Feeling lucky? You can buy six ducks for $25 or a whole flock of 25 for $100. At 6 p.m. on derby day, volunteers will dump the rubber duckies (numbered by ticket of course!) into the Appomattox River, for their paddle to the finish line at Riverside Park. Who will come in first? Winners will be announced live at the event, and the owner of the fastest swimmer will receive a $1,000 prize.

“The profits stay right here at home with your neighbor.”
What’s the No. 1 reason you should participate in the Great Duck Derby? By supporting the derby, you are supporting the elderly adult population in our seven-county area through programs such as Care Coordination, Home-Delivered Meals and Non-Emergency Medical Transportation. 

“The profits stay right here at home with your neighbor,” says Jordan Miles, PSR’s director of Nutrition Services, Nutrition Transportation and Medical Transportation. Proceeds from the Duck Derby will help PSR provide services that aren’t covered by state and federal funds. The derby’s non discretionary funds can be used for purchasing wheelchairs, grab bars and hot water heaters as well as for providing services like repairing steps, yard cleanup and pest control. 

So get involved! Adopt a duck from Piedmont Senior Resources at 1413 South Main Street in Farmville anytime 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday. For questions or more information, contact 434-767-5588 or Jamie Anderson at janderson@psraaa.org.

Then come to Riverside Park on Sept. 17, and celebrate the last days of summer with your neighbors (and their feathered friends) at the derby!

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