LYNCHBURG, Tenn. — Image it’s Saturday and local John LaCook is up to his thighs in Mulberry Creek water just in front of the Jack Daniel’s Visitor Center. He’s rubber duck wrangling for the Moore County Resource Center’s (MCRC) fourth annual Lucky Duck Race.

The 4th Annual Lucky Duck Race is coming to Mulberry Creek on Saturday, April 25 during Spring in the Hollow — and ducks are available right now for $20 a piece.

The concept is simple and deeply satisfying: sponsors purchase a numbered rubber duck, local firefighter John LaCook wades into Mulberry Creek to referee the proceedings, and 240 yellow ducks race downstream along Main Street. First duck across the finish line wins $350. Last place — yes, last place — takes home $150. All remaining proceeds go to the Moore County Resource Center.

And it benefits a great cause. The MCRC is the quiet safety net that keeps a lot of Moore County families on their feet — monthly food boxes, utility assistance, back-to-school backpacks for local kids. Last year the duck race helped fund backpacks full of school supplies, shoes, snacks and hygiene products for more than 80 children. That’s what a sold-out race of 240 ducks can do.

They’re not sold out yet. Between 100 and 240 ducks need to hit the water to make the race happen, and every duck sold before Saturday morning is one more family helped this fall.

To sponsor a duck, find the MCRC on Venmo — note your payment as “Duck Race” — or see John LaCook or any event volunteer at Spring in the Hollow. You don’t have to be present to win, but watching a small army of rubber ducks navigate Mulberry Creek on a spring morning is, frankly, worth the $20 on its own.

Spring in the Hollow begins at 9 a.m. Saturday, April 25 along Main Street in Lynchburg. •

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