It is duck season in Cartersville! Advocates for Children’s Seventh Annual Duck Derby is about to begin, and the excitement is rising! On Saturday, May the 17th the Riverside Day Use area will be awash in yellow as professional racing ducks and their adoptive families flock to the banks of the river to watch the big race.

On Race Day, families enjoy the day-long festival of food, arts and crafts, entertainment, games and door prizes. At approximately 2:30 p.m., thousands of ducks are dumped into the river to race for fabulous prizes. During Duck Season, individuals can adopt ducks, and then each duck is assigned a unique number. Adopted ducks who make it first into the duck trap win great prizes donated by local businesses for their lucky adopters.

This year the Grand Prize winner will win a 2008 KIA Spectra donated by Terry Reid Kia! The Dawdle Duck prize for the very last duck fished out of the river will win a one year membership to Gold’s Gym. Many other prizes will be awarded to the top finishing ducks. A complete list of prizes can be found on the organization’s website, www.AdvoChild.org. This year’s Duck Derby promises to be even more exciting than previous years. Over four thousand people are expected to attend, which is good news for Advocates for Children, a non-profit organization dedicated to serving over two thousand children in the metro-Atlanta area.

The Mission of Advocates for Children is to offer safety, comfort and hope to children and youth by providing resources and support to strengthen our community of families. In order to reach this goal, partners and volunteers are a necessity. Volunteers are always needed in every aspect of Advocates, and there are different levels of partners to fit every budget. Programs and services include the Flowering Branch Children’s Shelter, Rainbows grief support program, CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates), Project Safe Place, and First Steps. Through these many different programs, Advocates for Children strives to reach the overall mission and make Northwest Georgia a great place to be a child. For more information please visit www.AdvoChild.org.