AVOCA – Avoca firefighters assembled the track to traditional specifications at Fowl Field Friday and posted the signage to signal Saturday’s return of thousands of the closest Quack Off family members.

The 41st annual Quack Off renews a tradition started by a bar bet that lured local men out to a farm pond to see whose duck was the fastest.

Fire Chief TJ Goepfert said firefighters welcome the opportunity to bring the Quack Off back after a two-year interruption linked to the coronavirus pandemic.

Goepfert: “We line up on the raceway over here and five at a time we race, single elimination, and then go as many rounds as it takes to come up with our winner.”

Goepfert and Fire Department Captain Austin Nielsen confess their own racing legacy never went far beyond the opening rounds, but they’ve had some useful observations over the year.

Goepfert: “Ducks that are hard to catch are obviously a little faster. Get one that wants to run and not sit and one that is a little shy and skiddish so if you get behind it you can get it going.”

Nielsen said it was exciting as a kid to get to come to town and race his own farm ducks.

Nielsen: “My sister, she loved to raise her own ducks and I liked to torment them and chase them around the lawn. Well, they made good racing ducks.”

The event has attracted as many as 5,000 people in the past, but the men say there’s no telling how many will turn out after the time off. Goepfert said he expects a family reunion type atmosphere.

Goepfert: “There’s been a lot of people that have reached out to us that miss coming to the annual Quack Off and seeing people. There’s a lot of people that come for the event that see people at the event each year and have kind of grown to be a family together.”

Goepfert said there is not a single truck in the Avoca fire barn that does not have some equipment purchased from funds raised directly from the Quack Off.