Every first Saturday in October Waipawa has its Spring Festival. This is really
a country fair where a lot of the people from Waipawa and the neighbouring countryside
turn up in town for a fun day of country stalls and activities.
The event the Spring Festival has become really famous for over the years is
the great “Waipawa Duck Race” (which is what “Pawa
the Duck” was originally made to advertise).
The duck race…
This is where traditionally five hundred ducks are dropped into our river and
they ‘swim’ really fast down to the finish line.
During the two weeks leading up to the duck race tickets with numbers are sold
in town and these correspond with numbers written on the bottom of the ducks.
After the town fair everybody makes their way down to the river in anticipation
of the great duck race.
This year as a special event the kids where asked to make their own duck (the
only rule being that it could not be made of a duck decoy or a bath duck). The
ducks which the kids came up with were spectacular…
Ducks come in all shapes, sizes and colours
Before the main duck race the kids took their creations into the river and
had their own duck race.
On your marks… set… GO! And they’re off…!
Then comes the Main event.
The great Waipawa Duck Race!
Caption: Five hundred yellows ducks hit the water.
They paddle for their lives… and hopefully my duck will win!
Past the crowds, under the bridge…
and to the finish line.
And the winner is… not my duck.
And so another duck race is over for another year.
After all the publicity (a.k.a – fuss or negativity) our council has
made over whether our big yellow duck can return to our main street or not,
has actually had the opposite effect to what they wanted. It has drawn attention
to people even further away from Waipawa than usual not only Pawa the Duck,
but our duck race as well.
This year our duck tickets sold out in record time, as other people from far
and wide, bought up tickets for a little bit of fun.
Strange thing is… people actually like having a little fun in their lives…
and that’s exactly what the duck race is… FUN!
So the power of the yellow duck lives on…
And our Chamber of Commerce has decided for next year that they need to at
least double the number of tickets.
