It’s usually a big celebration with a large gathering of people down on the Nevada Street Bridge adn Cormerstone Realty office in Nevada City, bu thjis years 49er Rotary Duck Race had to take a more subtle approach because of COVID-19 restrictions. However, people who happened to walk by the corner were please to watch one of six duck races that took lace Sunday morning and early afternoon. One couple was escaping smokier areas of the state.

Another couple had come up from Grass Valley to see the races.

They unfortunately did not have a duck in the race this year, but were already planning on next year.
Marty Lombardi was wading in the creek helping corral the ducks as they finished each race.

Current 49er Rotary President Marsha Burch says the Duck Race is the major part of Rotary’s fundraising.

The club raised 16,000 dollars this year through business sponsorships and between 10 and 20 thousand dollars through ticket sales.
There were four qualifying heats with first, second and third place winners getting 100, 50, and 25 dollars each… and then the top 50 ducks from each of those races competed for the 2500, 1000, and 500 dollar first second and third place prizes.