Tickets for the Mad River Valley Rotary Club’s 2024 Great Duck Race are now on sale.
Those who buy tickets can “adopt” a duck for race day for a chance to win cash prizes of up to $1,000. Each ticket costs $5 and ticket bundles are available. Tickets will be available on Fridays in front of Mehuron’s from 3 to 5 p.m. and at the Waitsfield Farmers Market on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tickets can also be purchased online at https://mrvrotary.rallyup.com/duckrace2024/
This year Rotarians have added the Mad Duck 100 for those who really want to roll the duck dice. The Mad Duck 100 will be limited to 100 ducks and tickets are $100/each. The prize for this race is a whopping $1,500.
The race helps support Mad River Valley Rotary Club as well as the many programs, events and community projects the club supports. These include The Warren Fourth of July parade, the Mad River Valley Dog Park, Rise Against Hunger, Neck of the Woods, Habitat for Humanity, grants and scholarships for local students and many, many more. Learn more about the Mad River Valley Rotary charitable giving programs at mrvrotary.org.
The Great Duck Race happens Sunday, September 1, at Lareau Swim Hole south of Irasville on Route 100 There will be kids’ activities and more with the first duck race starting at 3 p.m.
Look for the ducks in the Warren Fourth of July parade.
Mad River Tai Chi summer session offered
Tai Chi practitioners Richard and Nancy Browne, Fayston, are offering a summer session of Tai Chi classes for the 10th year. This year they will be teaching the Cheng Fu’s Original 13 form. This form that take 3 minutes to complete and is rather easy to learn has only 13 moves. The exercises are low impact and are practiced in slow motion.
“A wonderful aspect of this exercise is that upon completion, instead of feeling tired, you feel invigorated. I am 78 and my wife is 72. We have been practicing Tai Chi together since 1975, we love it and do it daily. In the morning, we begin with a light stretch, followed by a few rounds of the form. We do at least 15 minutes of Tai Chi in the morning and by evening we are ready to do it again,” Richard Browne said.
Classes are Saturday’s from 9 to 10 a.m. and on Monday’s from 6 to 7 p.m. Classes will run for 12 weeks.
They are offering the first class free and people can call for more information and to reserve a spot, 786-877-7470. Street clothes are fine for the classes.
Local artist’s work in Art Show at the Birds of Vermont Museum
Local photographer Tina Valentinetti is one of the featured artists whose work is appearing in The Birds of Vermont summer art show “Power of Perspective.” The Birds of Vermont Museum has been hosting themed community art shows since 2014. Each winter, the staff develops a bird-related theme for the exhibit and invites submissions in varied media. The 2024 art show, “The Power of Perspective,” poses and answers questions of how bodies, ideas, and assumptions might alter or affect what people perceive, think about, imagine, and understand about birds.
Each work reflects the theme in its own way. The art includes distant views from above, below, and sideways; magnifications and close-ups; seasonal, ethical, and metaphorical angles; classic human-illustrates-bird compositions; immersions into habitats; and differing senses and unusual species.
It is an adventure, trying to fit together the many perspectives, styles, and media into a cohesive show that (we hope) tells a story or two. Over 50 artists, photographers, and poets of all ages exhibit their work this year. Most are from Vermont.
The show runs from May 1 to October 31 at the Birds of Vermont Museum in Huntington. The museum is open Wednesdays to Sundays, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., during these months. There will be an informal reception/meet the artists on Thursday, July 18, at 3 p.m. (Registration is optional and can be done at the museum’s website, https://birdsofvermont.org/special-upcoming/ .)