Daniel Thompson didn’t make it to the Great Olympic Peninsula Duck Derby on Sunday, but he won the top prize.
Thompson’s yellow rubber duck — one of more than 28,000 entered into Sunday’s 28th annual Great Olympic Peninsula Duck Derby — was the first to float over the finish line, earning Thompson a 2017 Toyota Corolla donated by Wilder Toyota of Port Angeles. The derby was at the Lincoln Park ponds.
“I’m still in shock,” the Port Angeles man said a couple hours after the race ended.
He said that when one of his friends called telling him he had won the car Sunday, he thought he was kidding.
“But he said, ‘No, you got it,’” Thompson said, adding he has never won anything like a new car. “You don’t go through this kind of shock very often.”
Thompson said that in addition to his car, he’s going to keep his Dodge pickup.
“I’ve gotta keep my truck,” he said.
He said he is thankful the Duck Derby is in the community and that the Wilder family has continued to support it.
In total, 45 prizes worth about $25,000 total were up for grabs this year with proceeds benefiting the Olympic Medical Center Foundation and the Sequim Rotary Club’s charitable projects.
Bruce Skinner, co-chairman for the event, said it’s one of the OMC Foundation’s top fundraisers and that this year’s derby was the most profitable out of any in recent years.
He said the final number hasn’t been figured yet, but he estimates the Duck Derby raised some $100,000.
Skinner said it’s not unusual for the first-place winners to be absent from the race. Not one first-place winner in the derby’s 28 years has actually attended the race, he said.
This year only one of the 45 winners was actually at the race, he said.
The race began as a dump truck full of rubber ducks, which was parked on the bank above the pond, upended its load.
The rush of ducklings were pushed down a chute by streams of water from fire hoses operated by firefighters with Port Angeles Fire Department and Clallam County Fire District No. 2.
The horde of ducks that entered the water at the beginning slowly inched across the pond toward the finish line.
One by one, the first 100 ducks to cross the finish line were carefully documented and placed in plastic bags so they could be paired with their ticket owners.
Following the race, crews carefully corralled the ducks and removed them from the pond.
The winners are …
1. Wilder 2017 Toyota Corolla — Daniel Thompson of Port Angeles
2. $1,000 in cash from 7 Cedars Casino — Herb Rusell of Port Angeles
3. $500 in cash from 7 Cedars Casino — Bill Jackson (Baxter Auto Parts) of Port Angeles
4. $100 gift card to Amazon — LabCorp
5. $200 gift card to Washburn’s General Store — Sande Balch of Port Angeles
6. $150 gift card to Mobuilt RV — Sequim Auto Clinic employee
7. $150 gift card to Forks Outfitters — Lynn Logelin of Port Angeles
8. Victoria trip for two — Wendy Hoffman of Port Angeles
9. Five cases of Bedford’s local sodas — Bill Kintner of Port Angeles
10. $100 gift card to Bella Italia — Ken Monds of Port Angeles
11. $100 gift card to Thomas Building Center — Suzanne DeBey of Port Angeles
12. Dinner for two at LD’s Woodfire Grill — Holly Grice of Port Angeles
13. $100 gift card to Baskin Robbins — Applebee’s Sequim
14. $100 gift card to Double Eagle Steak &Seafood or Stymie’s Bar &Grill Good Impressions — Dry Cleaners &Laundry of Sequim
15. $100 gift card to Starbucks — Les Schwab Tires of Port Angeles
16. $100 gift card to JCPenney — Todd Haworth of Port Angeles
17. $100 gift card to Safeway — Gene Unger of Port Angeles
18. $100 gift card to Over the Fence — Burton Flooring of Port Angeles
19. $100 gift card to Swain’s General Store — Westport employee
20. $100 gift card to Applebee’s — Larry &Tuyla Luke of Sequim
21. $100 worth of gasoline at Bob’s Chevron — John Frichette of Port Angeles
22. $100 worth of gasoline at Lovell’s Roadrunner 76 — Esther Eagle of Port Angeles
23. $100 gift card to Sears — Sullivan Healthcare Consulting
24. Pedicure &manicure with Laurie Rinehart &5 Tan Sessions — Matt Coates
25. $100 gift card to Fiesta Jalisco — Pam Lockhart of Port Angeles
26. $75 gift card to Doodlebugs — Mike Baker of Port Angeles
27. $75 gift card to Emerald NW Grill &Public House — Kay Hermann of Port Angeles
28. 28th Duck Race Anniversary Prize — Rose Symonds of Port Angeles
29. $50 gift card to Auto Zone — Todd &Mary Irwin of Port Angeles
30. $50 gift card to NAPA Auto Parts — Renee Borde of Port Angeles
31. $50 gift card to That Takes the Cake — JoAnne Crawford of Port Angeles
32. $50 gift card to H2O Waterfront Bistro — Richard Hixson of Chewelah
33. $50 gift card to Chestnut Cottage — Mike &Carrie Wait of Port Angeles
34. $50 gift card to Jim’s Pharmacy — Roger &Maura Oakes of Port Angeles
35. $50 gift card for Jose’s Famous Salsa — Bud Chittick
36. $50 gift card to Sequim Auto Parts — Carl Batton of Port Angeles
37. $50 gift card to Angeles Millwork &Lumber Company — Josh Bergesen of Port Angeles
38. $50 gift card to Hartnagel Building Supply — Matthew Mitchell of Burely
39. $50 gift card to Chestnut Cottage — Vision Landscape employee
40. $50 gift card to Home Depot — John Coromer of Port Angeles
41. $50 gift card to Next Door Gastropub — Gary Wall of Port Angeles
42. $50 gift card to The Oak Table — Kelli Shewey of Sequim
43. $50 gift card to La Belle Creperie — Adele Kelly of Clallam Bay
44. $50 gift card to Black Bear Diner —Ed Sumpter of Sequim
45. Cash from Seven Cedars Casino — Daniel Shea of Port Angeles
Very Important Duck winners
1.$500 Hermann Brothers
2. $250 Sound Community Bank
3. $100 Sunburst Builders
Kids Race winners
1. Autumn Wilson-Rowland
2. Hayley Johnson
Bob Lovell, co-chair of the 28th annual Great Olympic Peninsula Duck Derby, hands over a winning duck to be recorded Sunday. (Jesse Major/Peninsula Daily News)
Ducks race to the finish line during the 28th annual Great Olympic Peninsula Duck Derby in Port Angeles on Sunday. (Jesse Major/Peninsula Daily News)
Volunteers line up Very Important Ducks for their race before the main event during the 28th annual Great Olympic Peninsula Duck Derby in Port Angeles on Sunday. (Jesse Major/Peninsula Daily News)
