Kinsmen offers more “family-oriented” approach to annual Duck Derby

Jason Steinkey of the Kinsmen club said, “this is the first year we’ve incorporated the Kinsmen Day attached to the Duck Derby. So in year’s past we’ve just had the Duck Derby event itself, this year we’ve tried to have more of a Kinsmen family day orientation, so we’re trying to give more back to the community today.”

Steinkey said this year’s Derby is just the beginning of a developing community fundraiser.

“Well we’d like to grow it every year, so now that we’ve incorporated the family day into it, we’d like to keep having this. And eventually the more people we can get interested we can eventually start selling more than a thousand ducks,” he explained.

Emlyn Giles attended the event as the future vice-president and eventual president of the Kinsmen. He hopes events like the Derby encourage more community advocates to join the Kinsmen.

“For us it’s getting the community together and meeting people and hopefully garnering a bit more interest in the Kinsmen club of Medicine Hat and Kinsmen as a whole. If guys are coming here and see a bunch of guys putting on this thing, then we’re hoping that’s gonna spark a bit of interest,” he said.

A big point made by Giles is how citizens of Medicine Hat show up to support community events, no matter the circumstances.

“What amazes me is even within the financial climate, we manage to sell out tickets for these things, we managed to sell out tickets for Big Bag of Cash, we managed to sell out Beerdemic, so it just tells you what the community is willing to give even in these hard financial times, so where better to live?” Giles said.

Free family swimming is just one of the Duck Derby-funded events that Hatters can enjoy this summer.

Winners of Duck Derby 2023:

1st place: Kevin Kalmring

2nd place: Brenda and Peter Wartha

3rd place: Kyle Anderson

by Lisa Parent

Kinsmen offers more “family-oriented” approach to annual Duck Derby

Our Community