THE MILLION DOLLAR - 20TH ANNUAL
DUCKY DERBY FESTIVAL 2011
Saturday, August 13
Rio Grande Park - Aspen, Colorado
Congratulations to our grand prize $10,000 winner Karen, Mandy and Dion Sullivan of Mill Valley, CA!
Pierre/Famille to Sponsor the Aspen Rotary Club’s 20th Annual Ducky Derby
ASPEN —The Aspen Rotary Club is pleased to announce longtime Aspen jeweler Pierre/Famille as the title sponsor of the 2011 Ducky Derby, scheduled for Saturday, August 13th, in the Rio Grande Park in Aspen.
It’s a year of anniversaries, as Pierre/Famille celebrates 25 years in business locally, the Ducky Derby has its 20th anniversary of floating rubber ducks down the Roaring Fork River, and the Aspen Rotary Club honors 40 years of charitable work in the Roaring Fork Valley.
Pierre/Famille, owned by Donald Stone and Judith Family, began business in Denver in 1982, and opened up shop in Aspen in 1987. The store specializes in “important and period jewels, such as signed pieces from Cartier, Tiffany, Van Cleef and Harry Winston.” says Stone, which is what he contributes to the store’s long-term success. “Our products are sought after by people who come from cosmopolitan locations and have sophisticated backgrounds and interests in terms of collecting.”
Stone says that he and Family have been looking for important organizations that do charitable work in this community, and decided to become title sponsor for this year’s Ducky Derby in order to focus in a more meaningful way on those important charities. “We wanted to support the Aspen Rotary Club’s major fundraising activity,” he says.
The Ducky Derby is, in fact, the only source of fundraising for the Aspen Rotary Club. A novel idea conceived in 1992 as a unique form of raffle, the Ducky Derby annually floats approximately 30,000 yellow rubber ducks down a stretch of the Roaring Fork River in Aspen, with the first ducks to cross the finish line winning prizes for their “adoptive parents.” Each summer Rotarians and members of local youth groups solicit people to adopt little yellow swimmers for $10 per duck. Multiple ducks purchases are available at discounted prices. Title sponsor Pierre/Famille combined with other event sponsors underwrite the event’s large operating costs allowing 100% of the proceeds from duck adoptions to go directly to charitable works both locally and internationally.
Over the past 20 years, the Ducky Derby has raised $2.3 million for 65 nonprofit groups in this community as well as charitable organizations around the world. The event has also expanded to include a day-long family friendly Ducky Derby festival in the Rio Grande Park, featuring games and prizes for kids, bounce houses and a barbecue lunch.
Other presenting sponsors for the 2011 Ducky Derby include Morris Fyrwald/Sotheby’s International Realty; Natural Aspen Landscape Contractor; Pro Build; Aspen Valley Hospital; The Aspen Times; KUUR/TV Aspen/KSNO; and Symbion Design.
The Aspen Rotary Club began in 1971, founded by Jim Grinnell with 35 charter members who together wanted to promote Rotary’s belief in “Service Above Self.” The local club has contributed $200,000 to 50 world community service projects, which has been leveraged with partners to equal $1.2 million. The Aspen Rotary Club has completed 55 projects in 15 countries, focusing on projects that provide that promote literacy and provide for basic needs like clean, potable water; medical equipment and training; new schools; sanitary bathrooms; and wheelchairs.
For more information on the 2011 Ducky Derby Festival, scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 13 in Rio Grande Park, contact Head Duck John Olson at 925-7479.