Duck tickets are on sale now for the 22nd Annual Great Olympic Peninsula Duck Derby set Sunday, May 22, when some 30,000 rubber ducks will float on the tide in Nippon Paper Industries mill canal in Port Angeles.

Racers can win the grand prize — either a new 2011 Toyota Tacoma pickup truck, or a Toyota Corolla provided by Wilder Toyota.

Forty-four total prizes, worth more than $25,000 will be up for grabs this year, with proceeds benefiting the Olympic Medical Center Foundation and the Sequim Rotary Club’s charitable projects.

Duck tickets can be purchased from members of the OMC Foundation, many Olympic Medical Center employees, Sequim Rotary Club members, the Forks’ Soroptimist International of the Olympic Rainforest, at the Peninsula Daily News at 305 W. First St. as well as through other volunteers.

Each duck ticket for the main race costs $5, and $25 buys six ducks.

Special V.I.D. — Very Important Ducks — can be purchased for $250 each.

The Bub and Alice Olsen Very Important Duck Race race will be an opportunity for businesses and individuals, including those from outside the Peninsula who do business with local companies, to buy ducks with their logos emblazoned on them.

The main race in the Nippon Paper Industries canal in Port Angeles will be at 11:30 a.m.

The V.I.D. Race will be at 
11 a.m., just prior to the main race.

For each duck that’s “adopted,” the purchaser receives a ticket with a printed number, which corresponds to a number on the duck.

All of the numbered ducks are dumped into the Nippon Paper Industries canal on race day, and the “owners” of the first 44 ducks to cross the finish line win prizes.

Prizes will include cash prizes sponsored by the Seven Cedars Casino, gift certificates worth up to $500, as well as dozens of other prizes from the Duck Derby’s many contributors from the Olympic Peninsula and Canada.

On race day, the Kids’ Pavilion, KONP’s live radio broadcast, and refreshments will be at the celebration.

Bob Lovell and Rick Smith are co-chairing the race.

For more information, phone the Olympic Medical Center Foundation at 360-417-7144.