Vista Duck Race preps Wave Waterpark opening

Long-running Wave Waterpark tradition turns into downtown Vista’s new economic development experiment with 1,000 ducks and dozens of local prizes

The 24th annual Vista Duck Race was Sunday at the Wave Waterpark. The race is a fundraiser for the park and added an economic development component with participating businesses this year. Photo courtesy Downtown Vista/Maria Bowman

VISTA — An army of rubber ducks raced across the waters of the Wave Waterpark on Sunday in the run-up to today’s opening day.

The ducks are a longstanding, but little-known tradition where residents purchase a ticket to the waterpark to earn a place in the Vista Duck Race. However, this year, nearby businesses and their customers also got in on the action as customers received a duck for every $10 spent at a participating venue.

The venture with business was the brainchild of Bill Hornung, who contracts with the city and is part of the Central Vista Business Improvement District (CVBID). The race featured 1,000 ducks with the top 50 winning prizes, including $500 in total prizes for the winner, Hornung said.

He said the barely known event has massive upside and potential to become a large-scale operation every year.

The origins of the duck race, though, remain a mystery, according to Larry Vaupel, the city’s director of economic development.

“We wanted to do just some kind of fun, family-oriented activity and basically stumbled onto the fact the Vista Wave has been doing the duck race for 24 years,” he added. “It’s really meant to be a training event for the new lifeguards. We started talking and thought maybe we could publicize the Wave and publicize the duck race and tie it into an economic development activity.”