BELLAIRE’S RUBBER DUCKY FESTIVAL
Photo credit: Riverside Marina, Bellaire
A Press-Ready Travel Feature
From the Traverse City Convention & Visitors Bureau
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Mike Norton
Media Relations
Traverse City Convention & Visitors Bureau
(231) 995-3909
101 W. Grandview Parkway
Traverse City, Michigan 49684
By MIKE NORTON
BELLAIRE, MI – Every small town needs a festival, and the resort communities of northern Michigan are no exception.
They’ve created festivals to commemorate favorite fruits, like Traverse City’s National Cherry Festival, or favorite fish, like the National Trout Festival in Kalkaska, the Mancelona Bass Festival, or the National Coho Salmon Festival in Honor. They’ve got festivals to celebrate historical events, natural features, famous local heroes, sporting events and just about any other thing you can think of.
But when the tiny village of Bellaire finally got around to starting a festival, it seemed all the good ideas had been taken. Which is how they came up with the Rubber Ducky Festival – a 12-day celebration whose climax is a quarter-mile “race” on Aug. 16 in which thousands of spectators line the banks of the Intermediate River to watch 2,000 yellow ducks float past.
They’re not disinterested spectators, either; most have paid $5 apiece to bet on one of these competitive waterfowl. (The ducks are numbered, and the first place winner gets $500; in fact, cash prizes are awarded all the way down to the 27th-place finisher.)
In this river-crossed region, it’s hard to find a town that doesn’t run one of these duck races sometime during the year to fund some worthy local cause. But over the past 21 years the folks in Bellaire have spun their race into an elaborate ducky-themed extravaganza with concerts, children's activities, entertainment, sidewalk sales, parades and a host of other off-the-wall competitions, from a belt sander race to “the world’s second-longest coffee break.”
“It’s a hoot,” said Paula Vivyan of the Bellaire Chamber of Commerce, which supervises the duck race to make sure the whole thing is legal and aboveboard. “You wouldn’t believe how many people turn out for this thing. It’s crazy.”
One fascinated spectator at previous Rubbery Ducky Festivals has been filmmaker Michael Moore, who has a summer retreat on nearby Torch Lake. In fact, he chose the 2007 festival as the site of to hold an “unofficial premiere” for his health care satire, “Sicko.”
It’s not as though the town doesn’t have plenty of natural attractions. Nestled in rolling hills along a gentle clear river, Bellaire is a classic “Mayberry-style” small town with clean streets and a tidy, thriving downtown. Most of its 1,100 residents work at the nearby ski and golf resorts at Shanty Creek and Hawk’s Eye. Its wide variety of year-round recreational offerings (skiing and snowmobiling in winter, birding and mushrooming in spring, golf and fishing in summer, hunting and leaf-peeping in fall) rival those of Traverse City, just a half-hour to the south.
But it’s fair to say that in the late 1980s a fair percentage of the local citizenry felt that life around Bellaire wasn’t quite as exciting as it ought to be. That’s when local residents Ray and Rosemarie Mills heard about a town in Canada that held an annual rubber duck race and decided it would be a great way to lighten things up in the summertime.
“We checked into it, got some of our friends together, and bought 750 ducks,” recalls Rosemarie. “From there it just kept growing with more events, all having to do with ducks. The whole community gets involved in one way or another. It’s just a goofy thing we do.”
Festival events include such small-town staples as a 5K footrace, craft show, parade, children’s games, a matinee in the local movie house, a pig roast, several concerts, and the all-important duck race. A full schedule of events is available from the Bellaire Chamber of Commerce at (231) 533-6023 or by email at info@bellairechamber.org.
Where to Stay
The most plentiful lodging options in Bellaire are still at the large golf and ski resorts in the hills above town: Shanty Creek and Hawk’s Eye. Shanty Creek has nearly completed a $10 million renovation project to transform its aging 187-room Summit Village Lodge. Rechristened the Lakeview Hotel & Conference Center, the former lodge features tall hardwood ceilings, panoramic views of Lake Bellaire and guestrooms redecorated in a contemporary “lake house” design.
But the village abounds in smaller, more intimate properties, as well. The Stone Waters Inn is a charming 11-room inn perched above the riverbank just a block from the downtown shops and restaurants, while the picturesque Applesauce Inn Bed & Breakfast features a more rural B&B atmosphere in a restored country home. (Owner Dave Keene not only makes breakfasts, but serves an original dessert creation every evening.) And budget-conscious travelers interested in an extended stay can find traditional “up north” accommodations at the 17-room All Seasons Motel at the edge of town.
For help with lodging and dining options, and to learn about other winter adventures, activities and attractions in Bellaire and elsewhere in the greater Traverse City area, contact the Traverse City Convention & Visitors Bureau at 1-800-TRAVERSE or on line at www.VisitTraverseCity.com.
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