Penticton's Operation Duck Drop a success after snafu

Photo: Casey Richardson

Operation Duck Drop 2023.

The fastest ducks in the Penticton Channel have been announced.

Operation Duck Drop took place Saturday, featuring thousands of rubber ducks that locals had purchased and written their names on getting poured into the waterway in an epic race to Skaha Lake.

Proceeds from the sales raised more than $4,000 for the South Okanagan Similkameen Brain Injury Society and Penticton Indian Band.

The fastest three ducks were:

• 1979: Lorraine Kuzak
• 1426: Rebecca McCullough
• 1149: Blair Sutton

The three winners will take home $500 each.

The event had a hiccup at the end, when the mechanism to catch them at the end of the channel failed and sent a flood of yellow invaders into Skaha Lake.

Luckily, volunteers, organizers and bystanders sprang into action, and by all accounts had a fun time rounding up the rogue fowl.

"Thank you thank you thank you from the bottom of our hearts to all the volunteers who automatically stepped up and helped without being asked," co-organizer Sarah Tucker with Graphically Hip wrote on social media this weekend.

Anyone who found and collected a duck, or finds any washed-up stragglers, can return them to Graphically Hip for a reward.

Operation Duck Drop intends to be back next year.