Record-breaking 20,000 ducks race to raise money for girls

It was a record-breaking race as 20,000 rubber ducks made their way down the Manatee River on Saturday afternoon in a quest to float to the finish line first.

The biggest winners wound up being the students at the PACE Center for Girls.

The eighth annual Lucky Ducky Race for PACE Center for Girls in Manatee County on Saturday afternoon at Caddy’s at the Pointe raised more than $100,000. The race is the main fundraiser for PACE — an alternative school for girls who struggle in traditional schools.

“We are so grateful to the community,” PACE Executive Director Amy C. Wick Mavis said after the race. “From the bottom of my heart, thank you so much for helping us raise dollars and money to raise lives for girls in Manatee County.”

The race wouldn’t be possible if not for the many sponsors and organizers, including the Hernando De Soto Historical Society, she said, whose members volunteer every year to race the ducks.

Last year’s race set a record when, for the first time, all 15,000 ducks were adopted. But this year’s race easily surpassed that.

John Horne, president and owner of Anna Maria Oyster Bar — a sponsor of the event every year — was especially proud of one employee who alone sold 6,600 ducks.

Dawn Fecarotta, a waitress at the Anna Maria Oyster Bar, participated because she wishes there was something like PACE around when she was young.

“My mother had me a really young age in life,” Fecarotta said. “There was never an organization like this. It just inspired me so much.”

Knowing the challenges her own mother had faced having her before turning 15 years old, it inspired her to want to help other young girls. Last year, despite working three jobs, she helped to sell 1,600 ducks.

Selling 6,600 ducks this year, she has already set herself a goal of 8,000 for 2018.

But the best part for her was the Thursday before the race, when she had an opportunity to meet some of the students from PACE.

“It’s great that we have a program like this,” Horne said. “There’s so many people that need help and don’t get it.”

The PACE Center helps get girls in Manatee County back on track, he says, and the results are immediate.

For Wick Mavis, the event is as much about raising the money needed for the operating budget as it is to raise awareness.

“It’s so important to me for anyone to understand what PACE does,” she said. “The community is so supportive.”

This story was originally published May 13, 2017 at 6:58 PM with the headline "Record-breaking 20,000 ducks race to raise money for girls."