The postponed Beachport Duck Race has been rescheduled and will now be held mid-afternoon on Easter Saturday.

COVID protocols meant the customary January date had to be delayed by three months.

The race at the Pool of Siloam has become an annual summer favourite of beachgoers for almost two decades.

A cooler date in autumn is unlikely to deter the crowds on Saturday.

Hundreds of Easter holidaymakers are again expected to take up vantage points around the salt lake and watch as numbered plastic ducks are released from a vessel and “race” to the shore.

Ever since the first race was staged in 2003, this “moment of madness” has raised many thousands of dollars for community projects at Beachport.

The first race with 850 ducks was devised by Beachport resident Virginia Coonan as part of the Beachport Festival by the Sea and was won by a visiting Japanese exchange student. 

Although the Festival by the Sea is no longer held, the duck race has continued to provide a wonderful afternoon for families from Beachport and surrounding areas as well as many holiday makers each year. 

Each duck costs $5 and four major sponsors for the event donate the prizes for the winning ducks.

The Beachport’s New Year’s Eve Fireworks display, upgrade of the Beachport Cinema, maintenance of the former St Nicholas Church and Beachport Institute and financial support towards the award-winning foreshore developments by the Beachport Rivoli Bay Lions Club are just a few of the projects the Beachport Duck Race funds have supported.

The duck race is enthusiastically supported by the Beachport District Development Association and the Beachport Rivoli Bay Lions Club.

Earlier in the day, the BDDA will stage the ever-popular Easter Saturday street market along a closed Railway Terrace with a variety of wares on offer.