Duck necklaces, duck bracelets, duck dishes and duck-tinis. Anything and everything duck-related that you can think of will be at Kalahari Waterpark and Resort this weekend. (With the exception, thankfully, of Howard the Duck. He is not scheduled to make an appearance.) Friday night is the third annual Duck Derby, and this year’s event figures to be bigger and better than ever. “This year we’re working a little more on the whole duck theme,” said Pam Colbert, executive director of the United Way of Erie County. “We’re trying to build up a little more hype, and one thing that’s good for us has been the Web site (duckderby.com). We were able to send out e-mails to everyone who purchased a duck, letting them know about everything that’s going on. I think it’s going to help build interest.” Colbert mentioned the duck necklaces and duck bracelets that will be available for sale, and John Lippus, director of the Sandusky Main Street Association, talked about some of the other Duck Mania going on this weekend. “The race officially starts at 9, and it takes about 20 or 25 minutes for the ducks to go around (the indoor river),” Lippus said. “Then we’ll compile and announce the winners around 9:25 or 9:30, and there’s a big party afterwards, up at Kahunaville. Kalahari is offering special duck-related food items and duck drinks — I think there will be duck-tinis. They’re going all out. The whole weekend is duck-related.” For anyone who’s been living in a duck-free cave for the last two years and has no idea what the Duck Derby is, here’s the basic concept: n People purchase numbered ducks for $15 apiece. Five thousand ducks are sold — this year’s are all sold out, except for the final duck, which will be sold during a silent auction prior to Friday’s race. n The 5,000 ducks are placed into the Kalahari’s indoor river, where they are propelled by a mini Jet Express boat that cost about $10,000 to build, Lippus said. n The owners of the first four ducks to cross the finish line receive the big prizes — a Toyota Tundra (first prize); a large screen LCD TV and home theatre system (second prize); a weekend getaway package at Kalahari Resort (third prize); and a $1,000 gift pack from the Sandusky Mall (fourth prize). n All proceeds go to charity, with 50 percent benefiting The United Way and 50 percent benefiting the Sandusky Main Street Association. Because this year’s event is sold out — as was the first race two years ago — Colbert said she expects to receive about $30,000 in proceeds for The United Way. Everyone who purchased a duck actually ends up being a winner, because Kalahari donated 5,000 waterpark passes worth about $40 each, and everyone with a duck receives one of those, more than making up the $15 it costs to buy a duck in the first place. n “We’re the only duck race in the country that I know of that actually gives you something back for donating to the charity,” Lippus said. He also said this is the biggest indoor duck race he knows of. Lippus got the idea to hold a duck derby after reading about an event held on the Ohio River on Cincinnati. Having Kalahari involved gives this event access to a large, indoor waterpark that many locations across the country cannot duplicate. “We actually could qualify for the Guinness Book of World Records with this, as the largest indoor duck race,” Lippus said. “But to do that, we’d have to (have the ducks) go around about six or eight times, and we didn’t want the event to take that long. But we might just dump all the ducks in there one day and let them go around enough times to break the record.” One new addition to the event this year is the possibility for one lucky duck owner to win $100,000, thanks to a contest sponsored by National City Bank. Of the 5,000 numbered ducks, 10 numbers will be randomly selected before the race, and will then be placed inside a sealed envelope. If the winning duck coincides with one of the 10 numbers chosen before the race, the owner of that duck will get $100,000. Because 10 of the 5,000 ducks are tabbed, there’s a one in 500 chance that will happen. Not great odds, but certainly good enough to make things more interesting. As mentioned, the final duck will be sold at a silent auction Friday about 15 minutes before the race begins. Also available at the auction will be ducks signed by athletes from the Indians and Cavaliers, and even one by a member of the San Antonio Spurs. The entire night is open to the public, and the waterpark opens a little after 8 p.m., Lippus said. So if you don’t want to be a lame duck on Friday night, waddle on over. E-mail Justin Powell at hello@funcoast.com. He asks that you forgive him for that cheesy last sentence. Howard the Duck made him write it.