What happens when Rotary clubs come together around a shared goal? In Fort Collins, the answer includes 3,261 rubber ducks—and more than $70,000 raised for organizations serving our community.
On Saturday, August 29, the Rotary Clubs of Fort Collins Foothills and the 1918 Club hosted the 3rd Annual Fort Collins Rotary Duck Race at the Fort Collins City Park Pool Lazy River.
The event raised $70,825 for around 45 local nonprofit and community organizations, surpassing the amount raised in 2025 and marking another successful year for this growing Rotary-led fundraiser.
The concept behind the Duck Race is simple: participating nonprofits and community organizations register as beneficiaries and rally their supporters to adopt ducks on their behalf. Each adoption helps generate funding for the selected organization while giving the adopter a duck in the race and a chance to win a cash prize.
This year, community members adopted 3,261 ducks in support of participating organizations.
Rotary Collaboration Creates Community Impact
While thousands of yellow ducks racing around a Lazy River make for a memorable event, the real purpose of the Duck Race is creating an accessible way for local organizations to raise money for their missions.
Members of both Rotary clubs worked together to plan and execute the event, coordinate participating beneficiaries, engage sponsors and community partners, promote duck adoptions, and create a family-friendly race-day experience.
That collaboration helped nearly 45 organizations benefit from the event—demonstrating what Rotary can accomplish when our clubs bring their networks, skills and commitment to service together.
The event was presented by Fort Collins Dodge Chrysler Jeep Ram, with additional support from sponsors, partners and volunteers throughout the community.
And the Winning Ducks Are…
Of course, it wouldn’t be a Duck Race without a little friendly competition.
After multiple heats through the Lazy River, the fastest ducks advanced to the championship race. Congratulations to the adopters of our three winning ducks:
- 🥇 Jason Weber — $5,000
- 🥈 Julie Mowat — $3,000
- 🥉 Kerrie Luginbill — $1,000
Race-day attendees also had opportunities to win, with $2,000 in door prizes distributed during the event.
Thank You to Our Rotary Community
The success of the 3rd Annual Fort Collins Rotary Duck Race belongs to everyone who helped make it possible—from the Rotarians who contributed their time and expertise to the beneficiaries who rallied their communities, the sponsors and partners who supported the event, and the thousands of people who adopted ducks.
Most importantly, $70,825 was raised for around 45 organizations doing important work in our local community.
For the Fort Collins Foothills and 1918 Rotary Clubs, that is the number worth celebrating.
Thank you to everyone who helped us make the third annual race a success. We look forward to seeing where the ducks take us next.