Avoca's Annual Quack Off

Avoca is a small village in Cass County, Nebraska. For most of the year, this tiny village of 300 people is pretty quiet - however every year, on the last Saturday of January, it becomes hub of activity, when it hosts the annual Quack-Off Duck Race.

It all began in the middle of a typical dreary Nebraska winter day, when a couple of men, trying to figure out how to pass the time, came up with the idea of holding a duck race.

Now 29 years later, the annual Quack Off is a popular fund-raising event for Cass County firefighters, and attracts both locals and residents of nearby towns, Omaha and Lincoln.

As you can imagine, it doesn't take a whole lot of skill or training to participate in these races - the contestants simply show up on race day with a duck, a ten-dollar bill for the entrance fee, and wait for the race to begin.

Don't have a duck? Not an issue. You can rent one of the 70 ducks that are brought in from a nearby farm. Since it is a flightless race on ice, the wings of the duck do have to be clipped, to avoid one having the unfair advantage of flying to the finish line, instead of waddling.

The rules of the race are pretty simple. Four ducks are lined up at one time and all the owners have to do, is try encourage them to waddle across a frozen tennis court in a straight line, without touching them. The winner and the runner-up move on to the next race, and it continues until there is a final winner.

Since it is a charity event, there is no cash prize. However, everyone gets a certificate for participating, and the last four finalists get a certificate with with their names written on it! But the people of Avoca and the neighboring cities are not here for the prizes. They just want to have some fun with new and old friends, during what is otherwise, a very lonely and cold time of the year. What a great idea!

Source: Nebraskanet,org