Mackenzie Outdoor Route & Trail Association (MORATA), a group that develops and maintains local recreational trails for bikers, hikers and casual walkers, benefitted from the annual Rotary Duck Drop in Mackenzie, BC, at Morfee Lake second beach in June 2022. Because the Rotary Club of Mackenzie is small, and after a two-year hiatus because of COVID, the club partnered with MORATA to produce this year’s Duck Drop fundraiser which always aims to make Mackenzie a stronger community. – photos by Silver Dove Imagery
In the six weeks leading up to the Duck Drop Mackenzie Rotary and MORATA sold 1,100 ducks at $10 per ticket. On the day of the drop many local residents turned out on a sunny day. When the ducks were dropped a local resident had their dog retrieve the numbered ducks to determine the prize winners.
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The club had a free barbeque, thanks to the local Elks Club and its large bbq grill, and to the local Co op and Scotia Bank for the food.
There were games for children and adults.
The RCMP, BC Ambulance and Search and Rescue attended for community relations.
Local military cadets helped set up and take down equipment and gathered the ducks after the drop.
Yellowhead Helicopters provided the pilot and helicopter for dropping the ducks in the water near the beach.
So it was a true, community event.
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Alexandra Forest Industries and Cattermole Timber founded Mackenzie, now a community of 3,700, in 1966, at the south end of Williston Lake created with the opening of the W.A.C. Bennet Dam.
The community is named for Scottish explorer Sir Alexander Mackenzie, who was the first to cross North America, north of Mexico, in 1793.