More than 85,000 rubber ducks will splash down into the Chicago River on Thursday, kicking off the annual Ducky Derby that funds sports programs for Special Olympics Illinois athletes. The ducks go on sale at the Columbus Drive Bridge starting at 10 a.m., with the splashdown itself set for 1 p.m. off the bridge. Each duck costs $10, and the top finisher wins a new Chevy Trax.
According to CBS Chicago, the race is an annual event built specifically to raise funds for Special Olympics Illinois, an organization that empowers athletes with disabilities. Becky Cavanagh, the 2026 Chicago Ducky Derby ambassador and a Special Olympics Illinois athlete herself, said adopting a duck raises money for athletes like her. Buyers can go big with a Ducky Dozen, which includes 12 ducks, or a Quack Pack of 6 ducks, and the festival surrounding the splashdown includes vendors, food trucks, and a watch party for spectators who want to see the finish line up close.
A Two-Decade Fundraising Streak on the River
This year's race marks the 21st anniversary of the Ducky Derby, which was established in 2005 and has generated more than $4.8 million for Special Olympics athletes across Illinois since it began, according to Secret Chicago. The outlet also notes that the Chicago event is recognized as the second-largest rubber duck race in the country, a scale that helps explain why organizers need floating containment booms and fine nets stretched across the river at the finish line. Those barriers, detailed by Best Date Food, catch every duck so none end up polluting the waterway, and the ducks are collected afterward to be reused in future races.
Beyond the Chevy Trax, this year's grand prize package also includes $2,500 in cash and four Chicago Cubs tickets to the Eero Club at Wrigley Field, per Secret Chicago's reporting. The last publicly reported fundraising total came in 2023, when the derby raised nearly $600,000 after more than 93,000 ducks were launched into the river, according to CBS News. That history gives Thursday's race a benchmark to chase as this year's fleet of more than 85,000 ducks takes to the water.
Where the Money Actually Goes
Duck adoption proceeds support more than 24,000 Special Olympics Illinois participants, a group that includes traditional athletes, Young Athletes, Peer Partners, and Unified Partners, according to the organization's own accounting. All of that sports training and competition is provided completely free of charge to athletes and their families, which is part of why events like the Ducky Derby carry outsized importance for the program's budget.
That funding recently sent a Special Olympics Illinois delegation of 57 athletes and Unified partners, along with 16 coaches, to compete across eight sports at the 2026 Special Olympics USA Games in Minnesota, held June 20 through June 26. The organization also hosts its flagship annual State Summer Games at Illinois State University in Bloomington-Normal every June, drawing thousands of athletes statewide to compete in sports ranging from track and field and gymnastics to powerlifting and unified cornhole, according to WCBU Peoria.
Chicago's Special Olympics Roots Run Deep
The Ducky Derby is just one piece of a much larger fundraising ecosystem. The Illinois Law Enforcement Torch Run has served as the single largest year-round fundraising mechanism for Special Olympics Illinois since 1986, raising millions annually through events like Cop on a Rooftop, Plane Pulls, and Truck Convoys.
All of it traces back to Chicago's own place in Special Olympics history. The global movement was founded in the city on July 20, 1968, when the inaugural International Special Olympics Games took place at Soldier Field with 1,000 participating athletes, according to WTTW. Hoodline has previously covered other signature local fundraisers tied to the same cause, including the Chicago Polar Plunge's cold-water fundraiser for Special Olympics Illinois earlier this year.
