On April 26, hundreds of people from all over southeastern Connecticut and Rhode Island converged upon the downtown Pawcatuck/Westerly area where, at 2 p.m., tens of thousands of yellow rubber ducks were dumped into the Pawcatuck River as the two towns celebrated the 10th Annual Pawcatuck River Duck Race.
The race began in 1999 after leaders in Mystic decided to end the event in the Mystic River. This years race marked the end of an era as committee chairmen Joe Iacoi and Paul Gencarella, who had headed the race for the last 10 years, ended their terms. The 2008 grand prize winner was Westerly resident Daniel Lathrop, who won a trip for four to Walt Disney World.
Patsy Reardon, winner of the infamous Last Duck Award, won a $25 Westerly/Pawcatuck Chamber of Commerce gift certificate, and 7-year-old Lauren Poirier won the duck race coloring contest and, along with her family, got to dump the ducks for the corporate duck race held at 1 p.m.