Rivers are my favorite kind of water. I love the ocean and lakes, sure, but I’ll take a rocky, rolling river (extra bonus for a waterfall) every day of the week.
Funny, then, that for a weekend getaway with my sister, we landed in Sperryville, Virginia. My sister found the spot: a small, vibrant town in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains with the Thornton River burbling through it. As an extra bonus, this weekend was the annual Sperryfest which includes The Great Rubber Duck Race down the mighty Thornton.
Ducks warming up for the race.
One thousand rubber ducks are tossed off a bridge at one end of town and whichever one crosses under the bridge at the other end of town first wins. It was without question one of the most adorable and delightful things I’ve seen in years.
The dumping of the ducks. (Photo: Ireland Hayes for Foothills Forum)
As Sebastian the pro river racing duck explains in his interview with the Rappahannock News, the town “started these races as a way to draw attention to the need to clean our rivers and protect our environment, to pick up litter and fight invasive species and protect water quality.”
And, even for me – someone who loves rivers and is committed to protecting the environment – it worked. The Great Rubber Duck Race literally threw in something both familiar and unexpected which helped me look at the Thornton River differently.
Watching a waddling of ducks cruise down the river helped me notice how clean the water looked (and cold! when I saw kiddos wading in) and that there was no Japanese Knotweed or other invasives (that I recognized). I noticed the trees that were down (those ducks were so skilled, they didn’t get caught up…mostly) and a series of small waterfalls. I’d seen the river in passing but a thousand rubber ducks made me look at the river more tenderly and with more curiosity.
Consider how introducing something different or familiar but out of context (like bathtub duckies in a river) can shift attention, awareness and appreciation in other arenas.
Next week we’ll look at how my perspective on racism was shifted in just this way.