By GRAHAM BROOKS / Staff Writer

HELENA–Helena’s largest festival of the year, Buck Creek Festival, will be celebrating its 15^th anniversary on May 13-14, and the festival has announced that tickets are now on sale at various locations for the festival’s popular duck race.

The annual festival has grown to become a two-day, family friendly event that exists to raise money for various organizations within the community, as well as to help fund a variety of projects.

Last year, the BCF was one of the most successful festivals in nearly a decade, raising $22,640 in total funds.

The majority of the money was raised through the festival’s popular duck race, which raised $10,610 last year for the Helena High School Band Boosters.

This year, the money raised from the duck race will once again go to support the Helena High School Band program.

Various businesses in the Helena area are currently selling tickets to the race. The tickets may be purchased at The Depot, Oh My Sole and Helena Regions Bank. Tickets may also be purchased from any member of the HHS Band.

The cost to purchase a duck for the race is $5 a piece, or a flock of five ducks may be purchased for $25, which also includes a free T-shirt.

A side note to this year’s festival is the Buck Creek Festival pontoon boat that is used during the duck race.

The Buck Creek Festival committee was saddened to learn that the festivals pontoon boat, which was only used once for the 2015 Buck Creek Festival, was heavily damaged due to vandals stealing the pontoons off the boat more than a month ago.

However, Due to a kind gesture from Airport Marine in Alabaster, the business donated a used 24-foot pontoon boat free of charge for the festival to use in 2016.

A duck dumper device is placed on the side of the pontoon boat that then drops all of the ducks into Buck Creek for the race.

For more information on the Buck Creek Festival, visit Buckcreekfestival.com.