{"id":231625,"date":"2026-04-14T18:55:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T18:55:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/231625\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T18:55:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T18:55:11","slug":"45000-rubber-ducks-are-making-a-splash-in-fort-lauderdale-this-weekend-for-a-charitable-river-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/231625\/","title":{"rendered":"45,000 Rubber Ducks Are Making A Splash In Fort Lauderdale This Weekend For A Charitable River Race"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/pexels-anthony-dalesandro-1601290757-33402840-1024x683.jpg\" class=\"wp-block-post-featured-image\" alt=\"Vibrant Rubber Duck Festival\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPexels\/Anthony Dalesandro<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<a data-force-follow=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/secretmiami.com\/author\/bianca-marcof\/\" rel=\"follow nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/profile1-150x150.jpg\"  class=\"avatar avatar-40 photo\" height=\"40\" width=\"40\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\u00a0\u2013\u00a0<br \/>\n\t\t\t\tStaff Writer\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\u00a0\u00b7\u00a0<br \/>\n\t\t\tApril 14, 2026<\/p>\n<p>The weekend is almost here, and if you\u2019re looking for something fun to do, Fort Lauderdale\u2019s charitable spring tradition is back! This weekend, New River will be filled with around 45,000 sunglasses-wearing rubber ducks as they race to the finish line.<\/p>\n<p>Presented by JM Family Enterprises, the Duck Fest Derby serves as a fundraiser where 100% of the proceeds benefit Kids In Distress (KID) and Family Central (FCI), organizations that support over 20,000 children and families annually across South Florida. The event also doubles as a themed festival, offering games, food trucks, music and more fun for the entire family. This year\u2019s theme brings the nostalgia with \u201cHigh School Homecoming\u201d!<\/p>\n<p>When will the Duck Fest Derby take place?<\/p>\n<p>The 20th annual race kicks off this Saturday, April 18 at Esplanade Park, from noon to 3 p.m. The park is located at 400 SW 2nd Street, right next to the Broward Center for the Performing Arts and across from the Museum of Discovery &amp; Science.<\/p>\n<p>How can I adopt a duck for the Duck Fest Derby?<\/p>\n<p>To participate in the race, individuals can purchase (or adopt) a duck starting at $5. There\u2019s no limit to how many you can adopt and some even choose to form teams to raise money collectively. Every splash makes a difference!<\/p>\n<p>What if your duck wins?<\/p>\n<p>As the ducks float down the river, the first ones to cross the finish line earn incredible prizes. Among them, the grand prize is a whopping $10,000!<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/susan-weber-cj0Bo3jvYNE-unsplash-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"a yellow rubber duck floating on water\" class=\"wp-image-55294\"  \/>Unsplash\/Susan Weber<\/p>\n<p>So get your ducks in a row, gather your flock and head to the Duck Fest Derby, which is free to attend! If you want to plunge into the action, you can learn more and adopt a duck directly on <a href=\"https:\/\/duckfestderby.org\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"shortcode-outbound-link\" data-has-ga=\"true\" data-ga-type=\"click\" data-label=\"https:\/\/duckfestderby.org\" data-action=\"text_cta_0\" data-category=\"click_non_sales\">their website<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re wondering what happens to all 45,000 ducks after the race, a dedicated team of volunteers make sure to scoop up every single duck from the river. They are then stored away to race again next year!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pexels\/Anthony Dalesandro \u00a0\u2013\u00a0 Staff Writer \u00a0\u00b7\u00a0 April 14, 2026 The weekend is almost here, and if you\u2019re looking&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":231626,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[249,251,250],"class_list":["post-231625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","tag-fort-lauderdale-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231625","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=231625"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231625\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/231626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=231625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=231625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=231625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}