By Charly SHELTON

This weekend, a Crescenta Valley favorite event returns. The Kiwanis Club of Glendale will host its fundraiser, the 9th Annual Kiwanis Incredible Duck Splash, alongside the Glendale Police Dept. K-9 Unit’s annual fundraiser, K-9s in the Park. They are separate events, but held in the same location at the same time – this Saturday, Oct. 22, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Verdugo Park, 1621 Cañada Blvd. in Glendale.

“The Kiwanis Incredible Duck Splash is Glendale Kiwanis’ big fundraiser for the year,” said Kiwanis member Todd Hunt. “It’s a family-fun event with great food, fun game booths for the kids, and, of course, the racing rubber ducks!”

The racing rubber ducks are the highlight of the event. Guests can sponsor a rubber duck in the race for $5 and, at the event, every half hour from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. a warm-up race is held, pitting duck against duck as they shoot down a waterway built in the park for the event. Then at 1:30 p.m., one final race is held to determine the victorious duck. The first duck across the finish line wins $10,000 for its sponsor, with $1000 prizes for the second and third place ducks, and $500 prizes for fourth and fifth place ducks.

“It’s a fun, family day in the park!  The kids love the rubber ducks and the games and several lucky people have the opportunity to win cash prizes up to $10,000,” said Toni Beck Espinoza of Kiwanis of Glendale.

All totaled, KIDS has raised $925,000 in the last nine years and they hope to break the $1 million mark this year. For more information and to sponsor a duck racer, visit duckrace.com/Glendale.

At the same time, the K-9 officers of the Glendale Police Dept. will be on hand at their own fundraiser to greet guests and give demonstrations.

“[There will be] lots of fun activities for the kids including bouncers, a rock wall to climb, face painting and pictures with the police K-9s, live demos with police K-9s demonstrating their training, obedience and apprehension abilities. There’s also a Halloween costume contest for the pets, low-cost pet vaccinations, pet first aid seminars throughout the day, a speed zone for dogs – clock your dogs speed with a real police radar gun,” said Ofc. Maribel Feeley of the GPD K-9 Dept.

This is the eighth annual event and helps to keep the K-9 department running all year.

“The K-9 Unit is funded through donations from the community and is not part of the city’s budget,” said Ofc. Shawn Sholtis. “Therefore, this event raises money to offset the costs of the program, including purchasing and training new dogs, maintenance training of our current dogs, dog food, supplies, equipment, medical bills and other costs. Donations for the event are collected through the Glendale Police Foundation, a non-profit 501 C3 organization.”

This event is a great way for the community to get to know the furriest officers of the GPD and see them in action. In the field, these highly trained dogs “search for dangerous suspects, illegal drugs, and weapons more effectively and efficiently than their human counterparts.  They are responsible for the apprehension of numerous violent suspects, keeping the community of Glendale safe,” Sholtis said.

For more information, visit GlendaleK9.com.

  Charly Shelton