Latest News

2025 Duck Winners Announced

The 2025 Big Daddy Duck festivities wrapped up on Saturday, June 7 with the Jim Tol Memorial Big Daddy Duck Race!  This year 265 ducks were launched in the river for the big race! With the crowds cheering on the ducks, #107 sponsored by Remmelts Mechanical won the title of Fastest Duck and #91 from sponsor Northland Automotive was named the Slowest Duck.  Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny from sponsor Pathway Financial Design won the Prettiest Duck contest by garnering the highest amount in donations for hand2hand to help provide weekend meals for kids in our school district and throughout West Michigan. 

Thank you to all our duck sponsors for their support of our Club's fundraiser. Special thanks to our "host" businesses who served as drop off sites and generously allowed us to display the decorated ducks in their storefront windows: Knape Industries, Rockford Family Eyecare, Edward Jone - Aimee Ohlmann, Glik's, The Local Basket Case, Golden & Jernigan, Meraki, Ila & Lucille, The Edge and Farmer's Insurance. 

777 New Books Kick Off Summer Reading in Rockford

We’re thrilled to announce that 777 brand new books are now in the hands of local kids, setting the stage for a summer filled with reading and imagination! These books, generously provided by the Rotary Club of Rockford, were distributed at the annual Reading Rocks in Rockford event on Saturday, May 31.

This cherished tradition, started by Rotarian and former Rockford resident Sue Bodenner, is now celebrating its 16th year of inspiring students to read and learn. 

Fun for All Ages

Children of all ages enjoyed the popular Pluck-a-Duck activity, where they could “fish” a duck from the pond to win a prize, select their own small rubber duck and bookmark, and then choose a book to take home.

Other activities included an author meet and greet, face painting, visits to the Rockford Public Schools Summer Bus for storytime, mascots and the RPS Reading Awards. 

Community Collaboration

A special thank you goes out to Loux Learning for their expertise in selecting age-appropriate books and for organizing the book giveaway and to the staff of the KDL-Krause Memorial Library for their organization of this event. We are also deeply grateful to the dedicated members of the Rotary Club, the Rockford High School Rotary Interact Club, and Scout Troop 2882 for working together to make this event a memorable experience for everyone who attended.

Here’s to another successful year of encouraging young readers and building a lifelong love of books in our community!

White & Associates Wins Most Popular Duck Contest

It was a tight race to the finish as Harry Potter performed his magic and surged to the lead of the 2025 Most Popular Duck contest in the last hours of the voting coming ahead of the Little Mermaid. Superman rounded out the top 3 contenders for the title this year.   Check out all the decorated ducks by clicking LINK    Ducks are arriving daily so check the link often to view them all!
 
The decorated ducks will next compete for the Prettiest Duck title during Rockford's Start of Summer Celebration at the Rotary Booth located by the Peppermill Grill. Through monetary voting, the duck that raises the most money in the Feed a Duck, Feed a Child promotion will win the title of the 2025 Prettiest Duck. The real winner of this competition is Hand2Hand as all money raised will be donated to this organization that helps provide weekend meals to food insecure children in our area. Voting runs Friday, June 6 at noon to Saturday, June 7 at 6 pm.
 
The BIG DADDY DUCK RACE will kick off at 5 pm at the Dam on Saturday, June 7. Racing ducks will vie for the title of Fastest and Slowest duck for their sponsors as they race from the dam to Sowerby Park. 
 
Decorated ducks will be on display in local Rockford business windows until Thursday, June 5 when they are prepped for their appearance for the Prettiest Duck contest. 
 
Back by popular demand at Rotary Booth will be the Duck Shoot where everyone is a winner!  See you at Start of Summer!

Fundraiser for ShelterBox Ready for August 20

The Rotary Club of Rockford hosted the 3rd annual Rotary Rocks for ShelterBox at the beautiful Garden Club Park next to the dam in downtown Rockford, Michigan on Tuesday, August 20, 2024.
 

ShelterBox works to support communities in crisis. Right now, over 100 million people around the world have been made homeless by disaster and conflict. ShelterBox is working to change this. By providing emergency shelter and tools for families robbed of their homes by disaster, ShelterBox and Rotary are transforming despair into hope.Their goal is to see a world where no family is left without shelter after disaster.

Since 2012, ShelterBox and Rotary have been official Project Partners in disaster relief.

Donations collected at the event and from sponsors totaled over $5,000!  Donations are still be accepted!  Scan the QR code to donate securely online or by check made payable to Rockford Rotary Club, PO Box 347, Rockford, MI 49341 with ShelterBox noted on memo line.

 

 

 

 
Photo credit:  Paul Jensen
The Reverend Jesse Ray, known for his unique Americana Rock and Roots sound, kicked off the evening of music.  Photo credit:  Anna Sink
Roosevelt Diggs
 
Rockford Rotary President Derek Reed presented ShelterBox Rep Bill Tobin with a check reflecting funds from the 2023 event.
Roosevelt Diggs closed the evening and invited Rockford's own Sean Krampe to join them on stage as lead singer for one song.

Winning Duck Sponsors Honored at Luncheon

The Most Popular Duck, by online voting,was awarded to Dependable Fire Protection.  Their winning Duck was designed by Peyton Gaylord, daughter of the owner.  Joining her to accept the award were Abbie and Afton Scott and Anne Gaylord.  Presenting the award were Rotarian Duck Committee Co-Chairs Erik Luxhoj and Bill Knape.
Great Lakes Hospital for Animals captured the award for Prettiest Duck with monetary voting in the "Feed a Duck, Feed a Child" campaign by visitors to our Start of Summer booth.  Their duck raised $58 to beat out their 163 decorated competitors at this year's event.  Accepting the award are Grace Freels, MiKayla Johanson, Courtney Roberts, Courtney Bohlinger, and Rylee Roberts.
A total of $600 was collected at the "Feed a Duck, Feed a Child" fundraiser for Hand2Hand. An additional $500 donation was made by an anonymous community member to bring the total to $1,100 for the group. Hand2Hand works to combat weekend hunger for local Rockford students.
Traveling trophies and certificates were awarded to each winner in 4 categories.  Taking honors in the big river race were Re/Max United-Rockford as the fastest duck and Edward Jones-Chris Carlson as the slowest duck.

Prettiest Duck in Rockford Awarded to Great Lakes Hospital for Animals

Congratulations to Great Lakes Hospital for Animals on winning the 2024 Prettiest Duck contest as part of the annual Big Daddy Duck festivities. 
 
The big winner is Hand2Hand who helps to provide meals for weekends and extended school breaks for food insecure students because "a hungry child hurts".
 
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