Race Rubber Ducks at the Annual Raritan River Festival

The one of a kind Cardboard canoe race, canoe rides, games, arts, crafts, live music, environmental activities and the Beez Foundation rubber duck race are some of the activities at this year’s Raritan River Festival that will take place on Sunday, September 29, at Boyd Park in New Brunswick.

The 34th Annual Raritan River Festival is free to everyone and strives to combine community entertainment and celebration with environmental awareness for the Raritan River.  The Festival that began in 1980 and featured Pete Seeger that year, has received the "Local Legacy” Award by the United States Library of Congress.

The Festival runs from 12:00 Noon to 6:00 p.m., with a full day of activities including canoe rentals, kids games, rides, a beer garden, food vendors, arts and crafts, environmental activities, a full schedule of live music and the cardboard canoe race.

The Colgate Paper Stock cardboard canoe race is open to everyone. Participants will be given sheets of cardboard, a utility knife, and packing tape to make a canoe in 1-2 hours. Entries will be paraded around the park before they are put into the river to compete in the race.  

The Rubber Duck Race is conducted for the Beez Foundation a nonprofit, charitable organization that raises money and public awareness to cure brain cancer through research, public awareness and related support activities for pediatric cancer treatment. Individuals or groups can “adopt” a rubber duck for $5.00 or a Flock of Ducks, five in all, for $20.00.  The ducks will be numbered dropped into the river from a huge “egg” with the owners of the winning ducks receiving prizes of a $1,000.00 American Express Gift Card for the Grand Prize, a Wii-U Deluxe 32 GB is the First Prize and Second Prize is a $250.00 American Express Gift Card. You can adopt a Rubber Duck by going to the Beez Foundation website at www.beezfoundation.org.

The Festival will also feature "Duckland" that will have games, lots of duck related entertainment and activities for kids and adults throughout the day.

Admission to the Festival is free of charge.  

Free parking is available at the Rutgers University Public Safety Parking Deck on Elijah's Way, just off Neilson Street. From Route 18, take the Commercial Avenue exit and turn right at the first traffic light onto Neilson Street, then a quick left onto Elijah's Way. The entrance is on the left. There is additional free parking in the lot at the north end of Boyd Park.  Premium Parking is available in the Rutgers Boat House parking lot for $10.00 per car on a first-come, first-served basis.

For further information on the Festival go to www.raritanriverfestival.net.

-City of New Brunswick