You can adopt a duck. If you do adopt a little, yellow rubber ducky, not only will you be helping the Rotary Club of the Tarrytowns achieve its charitable goals, but you may walk away from the Rotary’s Duck Derby at Patriot’s Park, April 24, with a $1,000 Amex card. That prize will go to the person who has adopted the winning duck in the grand final race of the Derby.

Held in collaboration with the Tarrytown YMCA’s Healthy Kids Day, the Derby may see as many as 2,000 duckies challenge for the Grand Prize, racing first in a series of heats prior to the final race in which winners of each heat will compete.

The hosting YMCA’s Healthy Kids Day will, as in previous years, provide an array of activities for children. Live music will help keep the mood spirited. There will be entertainment, food, an array of games for the kids and organization booths dispensing information. Festivities begin at 11 a.m. with the first Ducky race scheduled for noon.

Capri Pizza and Pasta of Tarrytown, as the donor of the $1,000 card, is the Grand Prize sponsor, and Mahopac National Bank is a gold sponsor of the Ducky Derby this year. Allan Block Insurance and the Westchester Marriott, along with The Hudson Independent, are bronze sponsors. Prizes for the preliminary heats will be provided by the Tarrytown Sheraton Hotel and the Doubletree Hotel.

“We are predicting greater numbers of ducky adoptions than we experienced in the first two Derby years,” said Rotary co-coordinator, JoAnne Murray. Adoptions are already off to a brisk pace, according to her Rotary colleague, Mimi Godwin.

The fee for adopting a single ducky is $10, while $50 will get you a “Six-Quack” and a “Tub of 13 Duckies” is $100. Applications for adoption certificates and checks, made out to The Rotary Club of the Tarrytowns, , should be sent to Mimi Godwin, 20 River Terrace, Tarrytown, NY 10591.