The Lions always support their community and the Bonfield Canada Day was no exception. On the Canada Day weekend, the Bonfield Lions set put their tent to sell “Duckies” as a fundraiser. This is an annual fundraiser and a lot of fun for the community as a whole. In addition, the club takes care of all the maintenance and repairs and tours of the train and “Zero Mile” display in the park.
The township had a free BBQ and cake to celebrate the day, as well as vendors, a bike rodeo for the kids and other fun activities. The Bonfield firemen were there in force with their display and to give mouth to mouth for anyone who felt faint. We had a few ladies that wouldn’t have minded. lol
In the afternoon, the big event of the day got ready to go ahead, the Duck Race. 500 yellow duck of all styles were sorted and loaded into the wagon and taken to the bridge at the head of the river. They were loaded onto a tarp and with the help of our friendly firemen, they were dumped into the river and the race was on.
At the assigned location, the Lions and volunteers were ready to catch the first 3 ducks as the winners. This included a spotter to make sure the first three were picked out by the Lions in the river. The winning numbers of 364, 499 and 500 came in and prizes were awarded of $250.00, $150.00 and $100.00. All of the proceeds of the duck race went to a hockey team from Corbeil, Astorville and Bonfield, which is part of the Bonfield Lions area.
It was this reporter’s first time seeing a duck race in person it was a lot of fun. Boy can those ducks swim fast. You have to be on the ball to grab the first three across the finish line. The only thing left after that was to catch the rest of the ducks and put them away again for the next time they were needed. It took some convincing to get some of the kids to not take their ducks home with them as they would be needed again next year. Great time and race.
