A Ducky Day Was Had By All

The ducks had a great day on Sunday, because they were the ones floating in the nice, cool water of the Pequabuck River.
Wow, it was hot out there in Forestville -- at least in the upper 80s -- but everyone had a great time anyway. We especially appreciate the hard work of D.J. Roberge -- he is awesome at the music and the microphone.
Thanks to everyone who stopped by the Youth Journalism International booth to say hello!

This is Mariechen, the African ducky

I'm pleased to introduce our final member of the worldly ducky family, Mariechen. She's named after Mariechen Puchert, a writer for Youth Journalism International and a citizen of South Africa. This bright and fun loving young woman, who is at the moment working hard in med school where she also runs the student newspaper, is coming to the U.S. next month for a visit, when we'll have the pleasure of meeting her. For now, we'll have to settle for Mariechen the ducky, who will be making an appearance at the duck race in Forestville Sunday.
I'm not exactly sure why the international ducks sold to us were from five individual countries -- Scotland, the U.S., Japan, Germany and Spain, and one for an entire continent, Africa.
Africa isn't all one country, after all.
Remember, if you can correctly name all the duckies at the YJI booth in front of Nuchies at the Duck Race in Forestville on Sunday afternoon, we'll give you a prize!

Give greetings to Mr. Inglis, the Scottish Duck

We've named this handsome little Scottish duck Mr. Inglis, after our friend Dick Inglis. Mr. Inglis is a gentleman who has traveled the world and has made his happiest home in Bristol. He's

got a worldly view, he loves children and believes strongly in education. He's become a wonderful supporter of and crucial advisor to Youth Journalism International and with his smarts to guide us, we surely are going places fast. One of the places we are going real fast real soon is the Duck Race on the Pequabuck River in Forestville. The race is on Sunday afternoon. The festival starts at 11 a.m. and runs until about 3 p.m. YJI will have a table right in front of Nuchies with all our adorable international duckies, so stop by and say hello to all of them. We'll give you a temporary duck tattoo if you want one. And, we'll give a prize to anyone who can correctly name them all!

Hope we see you there!

Hola Rosalita!

Say hola to Rosalita, the Spanish ducky that will be making her grand entrance along with all the other worldly ducks on Sunday at the Duck Race on the Pequabuck River in Forestville.
Rosalita is part of the adorable collection of tiny ducks that my organization, Youth Journalism International, will have on display at our booth at the festival on Sunday, which runs from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
They're dropping 5,000 larger and far less worldly yellow plastic ducks off the Andrews Street bridge at 2 p.m. and they'll float to the finish line at the Central Street bridge at the center of Forestville a little while later.
If you don't have a duck yet, you can get one (it's really a raffle ticket) for $5 outside of Nuchie's this weekend. If there are any left, they'll be available the day of the race. Proceeds are split by the Forestville Village Association and the Central Connecticut Chambers of Commerce. In the past, both groups have used proceeds from the race towards beautification projects in town.

Meet Moyeka

Here's Moeka, the Japanese ducky. She's named after a little girl I knew some years ago. I think Moeka would have a blast at the duck race on Sunday. Come to think of it, she'd probably have a great time being part of Youth Journalism International if she knew about that, too.

But I lost touch with Moeka when she and my daughter headed off to different schools some years ago, so I can't appeal to her on either account, but I can appeal to you, readers, to come out to the sixth annual Duck Race on the Pequabuck.

The festival is sponsored by the Forestville Village Association and the Central Connecticut Chambers of Commerce. It runs from 11 a.m. to about 3 p.m., with the race at 2.

It's a great time, so come to the center of Forestville and check it out.

While you're there, find me at the booth for Youth Jouranalism International, where you can get a free temporary duck tattoo of your choice and admire all our sweet little international ducks and chat with some of our young writers.

My Favorite Festival

Oh, the joys of the annual Duck Race on the Pequabuck!

There's something quite wonderful about this little Forestville festival and if you've never attended, you should give it a try this year.

It'll be Sunday, from about 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., in the center of Forestville. I wrote about it for today's edition of The Bristol Press (http://www.bristolpress.com/.)
It's truly a family festival. There are things for kids to do, and some friendly vendors selling food and ducky stuff.

My organization, Youth Journalism International, has been part of the festival as a vendor since it began six years ago. We think it's cool, from the yellow ducks to Waddles, the mascot, to the awesome disc jockey who makes life at the festival a hoot for everyone.

We especially appreciate Dave Pasqualicchio, the honorary mayor of Forestville, who has done so much to make the festival what it is today, and to keep the village clean. He's an asset to Bristol and lately, he's been getting a vicious and unfair trouncing in the blogosphere just for speaking his mind. I hope he'll feel the love on Sunday in Forestville because I know he'll be there, working hard and probably picking up litter.

For the past couple years, my students at Youth Journalism International and some of our alumni have given away temporary duck tattoos to anyone who wants a little devil duck, angel duck, hippie duck... on their arm, hand or even on their face. Mostly it's kids who get them but older people sometimes do.

This year, we'll have the ducky tattoos and we also have a few Youth Journalism International trinkets on hand for anyone who might like a postcard, magnet or information about this non-profit organization.

Oh, and get this: we will have INTERNATIONAL ducks for display this year! They'll be making their community debut at the duck race, but I'll introduce them one by one to you as we count down the days to the festival. The handsome fellow in the picture is our German duck. We'll call him Sgt. Schultz after one of my favorite readers!

Mark it on your calendar for Sunday and be sure to come by and say hello to the folks at YJI!