This event is sure to be a quack-up.

The Friends of the Zelienople-Harmony Park is once again hosting a Derby Duck Race.

This year’s event will take place Saturday, June 2 at the bridge next to the Hearth & Home Furnishings store on Route 19 in Zelienople.

New this year is a dedication ceremony that will take place at 10:30 a.m. at the new pavilion at the canoe launch (which also is the derby’s finish line) while participants are waiting for their plastic ducks to float down the Connoquenessing Creek.

Alecia Flood, secretary for Friends of the Park—a nonprofit organization dedicated to enhancing Community Park in Zelienople—said the space last year was overgrown with weeds and in definite need of a little TLC.

Not this year

A pavilion was built and the canoe launch was revitalized by members of Megan’s Mission, a nonprofit that supports and nurture local families.

The organization was started in memory of Megan Durst, a married Cranberry mother of two young sons who died at age 32 in 2010. Durst’s husband, Matt Durst, a teacher at Seneca Valley Middle School, has been working on the pavilion with family members and fellow teachers since January.  

“Building this pavilion, rehabilitating this park and creating this beautiful space for families seems like a very fitting way to remember and honor her,” a statement from Matt Durst said. “Megan would love this space because it is a place where families can come together and simply enjoy being a family.”

Matt Durst and sons, Mattix and Mason, will be on hand to unveil the pavilion at the dedication.

During the derby volunteers will dump buckets of yellow rubber duckies from the Zelienople bridge on North Main Street into the Connoquenessing Creek.

The ducks journey down the water to the canoe launch off Halstead Boulevard. The owner of the first duck to cross into a collection tube will win $1,000. The second-place winner receives $500 and the third-place finisher gets $250. There also will be music, games, breakfast items, drinks and more prizes at the event.

The cost is $10 to enter a duck in the competition. All proceeds from the event will go towards a new tennis and basketball courts, an ADA-compliant chairlift for the pool and a zero pool entry at Zelienople Community Park.

The organization is looking for people to sell derby tickets. The money and the ticket stubs are due back to event organizers by May 20. For more information, visit The Friends of the Park website by clicking here.

To view the fun from last year’s derby, click on the video.