Mary Walker – Rockwall Rubber Duck Regatta
Two Dallas area nonprofits have partnered together to host the Rubber Duck Regatta and Jeep Festival on Saturday, October 12th at the Harbor in Rockwall, Texas. This family friendly celebration will include several fun Jeep events along with a rubber duck race where a lucky winner will receive a new 2024 Jeep Wrangler.
Mary Walker is here to talk to us about the festival and share with us how we can support these great causes, bring the family out to have some fun and how we can adopt our own ducks for a chance to win.
Mary is the Executive Director of The Grace Clinic which is a nonprofit family medical clinic serving patients in Rockwall County and the surrounding areas. They have partnered with the Boys & Girls Club of Northeast Texas to host the Jeep Festival and Rubber Duck Race. All proceeds raised will go to help children access proper medical care and developmental programs.
Are you ready?
It’s the Jeep Dog Show Chick Chat with Wendy and Avana.
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(…) Well, howdy everybody, this is Wendy and I’m just gonna get right into it. We have an awesome episode of Chick Chat this time. So, Chick Chat’s a place where we celebrate the perfect fusion of style and adventure. Jeeps have long been synonymous with ruggedness, freedom, and the spirit of adventure. And who says women can’t embrace all of that and more? Well, let me tell you, I have a wonderful guest I wanna introduce, Mary Walker. And she’s gonna tell us all about the Rubber Duck Regatta and Jeep Festival in Rockwell, Texas. Coming up guys, you don’t wanna miss this, October 12th. Welcome, Mary.
(…) Thank you, I’m so grateful to be here, I appreciate it.
Yeah, so we wanna learn all about this wonderful Jeep event. So tell us a little bit about it. I know that there’s some ducks involved and some Jeeps maybe, so give us some clue, we’re really super excited.
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Yes, so the Rubber Duck Regatta and Jeep Festival is held at the harbor in Rockwell on Saturday, October 12th. And it is a fundraiser for two nonprofits in the area. One is the Boys and Girls Club of Northeast Texas and the other is Grace Clinic. And they- And there’s both about those. Yeah, so both of these nonprofits help families in the community with both healthcare and educational type programs. And it’s a great way, this is our fundraiser that allows us to raise funds to continue that mission of both of these nonprofits. So it’s a really great fundraiser.(…) And we initially, it began in 2012, and it was just a rubber duck race, a rubber duck regatta. Yeah. And in 2022, we made the decision to take Jeeps and pair it with the rubber ducks, which seemed to be a really popular thing. Absolutely. And so we said, well, why don’t we go ahead and make our rubber duck regatta also a Jeep Festival.(…) And the giveaway back years ago was like a trip to Disney or something like that. And in 2022, we switched it and now it is a Jeep Wrangler.
No, wait a minute. You’re saying you can actually win the Jeep Wrangler? You can- Just for entering the duck race?
Just for entering the duck race. You can win the Jeep Wrangler, a 2024 four-door Jeep Wrangler.
And it’s beautiful.
That’s beautiful.
Now, do the people who are participating have to be there? I mean, could somebody listening from like myself from California be able to buy a duck or two and put it in the race and still win if I’m not there?
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Absolutely. So anyone is eligible in the United States to win.(…) And all you need to do is find your way to Texas and you can pick up your Jeep.
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I love it. That seems like a great deal, honestly. Yes. In fact, in 2022, when we rolled out this first concept with pairing with the Jeep Festival piece of it, one of the Jeep Talk Show listeners that lived in Midland was actually the winner. I remember that. Yeah. He flew in and we picked him up at Love Field and we drove him straight to the dealership and he drove home in his Jeep.
I mean, can you just imagine that story when you tell your kids how you got this Jeep? Hey, I bought this rubber duck. Maybe he bought 10. I don’t know. Maybe he bought one. You could buy as many as you want, right? There’s no limit.(…) There’s no limit. And then he wins. So, rubber ducks would definitely be on his dash all the way across, right?
Yes. He actually sent, I talked to him this week and he said he wanted to send a video just kind of telling us everything about his Jeep that he still has. And he said, it’s very dirty right now. And I said, well, that’s good. It’s supposed to be dirty.
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You’re living it.
Oh my God.(…) So tell me, because I’m really curious, so how does this race actually work? It’s the day of the event.
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You’ve got, I don’t know how many ducks do you have? Do you still have room for people to buy ducks?
Oh yes. So it depends. Every year we have a duck is $10 to enter the race. That’s it? To win a Jeep $10? Yes. In fact, the gentleman who won last year only bought one duck. And that one takes. It only takes one duck. It only takes one.
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So the way that we work is the festival begins at 10 a.m. And it’s a full day of fun. We have two stages. We have live music. We have food trucks. We have this huge kid zone with all types of games and inflatables. And then we have a Jeep zone. And in the Jeep zone, we have obstacles. We have a show and shine. We have an RTI ramp. And we have vendors.(…) And it’s tons of fun. It’s a lot of fun. And then right around 4.30 or 4.45, we make an announcement to start working your way over to the race location, which in Rockwall, where this festival is held, is on the banks of Lake Ray Hubbard in what’s called the Harbor District. And there’s a big movie theater. And in front of that movie theater are these huge fountains. And there are multiple levels that go all the way down to the lake itself.(…) And so at the top of the fountains, we dump the thousands of ducks that people have purchased.
And then just, you know, just the logistics of getting all those ducks. It is interesting. I’d like to see that part. Like how many truckloads do you need to bring to dump these ducks in there?
We rent large trucks.
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Well, and it depends.
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You know, some people, we did this thing on our Facebook page where we said, can you guess how many, you know, what did you check,(…) basically? And one person had guessed over 300,000. And we said, well, we wish because that would be raising quite a bit of money for our organizations. But I will tell you this. In 2022, it was right under 10,000 ducks.(…) And then in 2023, it was actually even a little bit less than that. Wait, that’s not right. Come on now. So the chance is pretty
good for $10. So you’re saying that you don’t have that whole capacity filled with, there’s probably no capacity, right? As many ducks. Now, I also saw that you don’t have to be an individual. You could be a corporation or a company or a business. And you could sponsor probably multiple ducks. And then they could take that Jeep and do something within their own company and raffle it off or donate it back to you guys for next year. That’d be kind of cool too. Not really. That’s the option. And I don’t think so. If you win a Jeep, I think you’re keeping it. At least I think I probably would. Yes. As much as I’d want to donate and help a charity event. Yeah, maybe I’m going to keep the Jeep.
Just keep the Jeep. It’s okay. Just keep the Jeep and then send us lots of pictures because they help.
So once you load them into that top, I’m assuming like a pool, some sort of an area.
The huge fountain. Okay. A really big fountain. And then it pours into another fountain, which then pours into another fountain. And then it just goes all the way down. And then we create this tubing type of finish line. And so they all kind of start working their way into like a triangle, you know, a triangular shape to get into this tube. And then the first one out wins the new Jeep. And then we also have a second prize. Second place gets $1,000.
Wow.
A Visa card, $1,000 Visa card. And then our third place gets a $500 Visa card.
That is amazing. So I’m also curious, how do you, so if I buy a duck,(…) how do you put my name on it? Or how do you know it’s my duck? Am I giving a number? Am I giving a code? How does that work exactly?
Yes. So all ducks have a number on the bottom of them. And your number is not assigned until right before the event, because we don’t want to throw one through 100 in first. And then, you know, so we do, we close off the duck sales.
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And then we do a randomizer and we randomly assign the numbers to all of the purchasers. And then at that point, we take the ducks that are up till that number. Because we have 25,000 that are sitting there waiting to go in, but we never know until the very end. How many do we have?
Well, I think we need to push for that. This would be awesome for 2024. I don’t care what’s going on in the world right now. It’s $10 people. We’re going for 25,000. So spread the word, let everybody know. You got to participate. I mean, no one would win a Jeep for crying out loud.
Yeah.
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And so we have you, you would end up being assigned a number that coincides with the number on the bottom of that duck. And so once the, once the ducks go through the finish line, we grab them and it’s all videoed. Uh, we’re, we’re streaming live. So even if you are in California, you’ll be able to participate as if you were here with us. And, and we’ll see who the, who the winner is in live, live on streaming.
Yeah. Well, that’s gotta be super exciting to be there in person. If you happen to win too. I mean, can you imagine the screams? I would be yelling so loud that everybody would know that I want it. So I had this vision when I, when I kind of looked at this, your website and kind of saw what you guys were doing and all the different events, which are fabulous. I’ll talk about that in a moment, but I was kind of a visual like, how do you make the ducks move with somebody back there blowing on them to move them? Are you guys splashing water on them to move them? Or is it like you said, a fountain and then the water’s just sort of making it happen?
Yes. So the fountains features themselves push that water. They propel that water over each level. And so the ducks just go for a ride.
Yeah. They’re just hanging there.
They’re just hanging there. And we call it a race, but that’s being friendly to the duck.
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I mean, they’re not racing. They are floating for sure.
(…) They’re just kind of hanging out. Hey, let’s go for a little, oh, look, I’m going on another level. This is so much fun.
Yeah, they kind of tumble, tumble, tumble and, and, and it’s fun to watch because you know, it’s, it’s, it’s lots of fun to see thousands of ducks go tumbling over the different levels of
the fountain. I bet. So how many levels are there?(…) I want to say there’s four.
Okay.
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If I’m, I believe, yes, there’s four. That we use one more at the very bottom, but that goes into the lake and so we don’t, we cut it off.
Yeah. And then you collect all the ducks and all the paraphernalia and make sure that the water is clean and all that so people can rest assure.(…) And then are you, you’re reusing those ducks then I guess, right? If you have them already numbered. So that’s kind of cool.
Every year we, we clean up and we leave it better than we found it. And you repurpose. I love it. Yes. And we dry them out for a couple of days and then we put them back in storage for the next year.
That’s amazing. So this is on October 12th. You do you need to pay to come to see this? It’s a free event. Free event. They come and check out the Jeeps. Come and it sounds like you have a, is an obstacle course where they can drive their own Jeep on. Yes.
Or is it okay?(…) So we have, we have three different obstacles that they can try. And so they aren’t really all part of a course. So you aren’t, if you get on and you don’t want to try one, you don’t have to. You can just drive past it.(…) But it’s, it’s three small different, you know, just it should be what we’ve been told is that any Jeep can do it if they’re, if they’re comfortable with doing it. And so yes, we have that and the show and shine are all in one big parking lot that we call our Jeep zone. And then the edges of it are covered in Jeeps that are stacked on top of each other and
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the live music and vendors and, and food trucks. It’s lots of fun.
Well, that’s amazing. It sounds like a really good event and family oriented because I noticed too, on your site, you had things for the kids to do. So tell us a little bit about what you can do if you’re bringing kids to this event.
(…) So because it’s close to Halloween, we have incorporated some fun new things this year.
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Those part of our part of our show and shine, one of our categories categories is called booty fall. And so it’s an opportunity for the Jeepers to decorate their vehicles in the Halloween styles. And so the kids love that because I
can only imagine how crazy some of these Jeepers are going to be.
These Jeep owners are creative. We are. We definitely are. Oh my gosh. It is so impressive to watch and see, you know, these huge, just, I mean, there’s liquid smoke. There’s really 50 foot skeletons. There’s just, it’s so great. It’s insane.(…) So we have that, but we also have a trunk or treat. So those that are participating will also be given candy so that they can give that out to the kids that are coming around. And then we also have the live music and the kids tend to like to dance and play and have all of that. But then the best part is what we call our kids zone. And in our kids zone, we have huge inflatables. We have lots of games, things they can compete. We have a mechanical bull.
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We have a face.
Find me up right there. I’m ready.
We have a face painter. And then we also have many Jeep races.
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So we have five mini Jeeps and children with a helmet are allowed to kind of race around a track that we have created. So it just gives kids of all ages something really fun to do.
That sounds exciting. I think you need to make that for adults next time.
I insist on the mechanical bull because I said people like that.
That’s a lot of fun. But I could just imagine getting in a little sort of mini Jeep and going at it like little go carts kind of a deal. I don’t know. You could maybe start another section called the adult that wants to be a kid zone. Yes. Yeah. So fun. So now you’ve been doing this since you said when you guys started 2012, you said.
So the boys and girls clubs of Northeast Texas, this they began this event in 2012. Okay. And then we partnered with them in 2022 and incorporated the Jeep event at that point. So when I say we I’m the executive director of Grace Clinic. Okay.(…) When we partnered in 2022, we just added to an event that they were already doing for the last several years. It was their 10 year and we added the Jeep festival. So it was it was quite a party.
Yeah, but that’s quite an undertaking too. When you merge two organizations, plus you’re already doing an event. I mean, I’ve been involved in some different types of events and it’s a lot of work. So I applaud you. You must have a great team and you know, people that help you. And I’m sure you have, which is typical of any corporation in any kind of a setting of somebody wants something one way and someone else wants it the other. And then you got to come to the middle. It turns out to be an awesome event. But that like you said, the stress level of getting into it and you’re coming down to the wire here. You’ve only got a couple of weeks before this event. So it’s a minute. Get it going.
So it is where we’re game time now. And we’ve been blessed to work with each other. We get along fantastic. It’s just been it’s bringing two different skill sets as far as our team, the Grace Clinic team and then their team. And so it just works really well. And we kind of all have we kind of are a well oiled machine at this point. Yeah. But I will tell you this, we could not do this without the volunteers. So we have people that are in the Jeep groups that volunteer with us and they run different parts of the event itself. And so we just we wouldn’t be where we are without without the amazing Jeep groups and the other organizations that are in our town that help out.
So I can I can kind of understand that I belong to a smaller, much smaller four by four club out here in Big Bear. And we did an event to try to raise funds because we donate obviously like you guys do not on that same scale, but we still did. And it was all hands on deck. And it was you just need all the people that are in the club. And then you realize, wow, we need like a bigger amount of people for this club because you need people in all different spots. And when you’re doing a run, we did like a poker run. So you had to go to different locations stuff. So yes.
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Anyway, it was it was amazing because you saw how the volunteers come together. You saw how everybody works together for that common goal. So I love hearing that people are helping you. And obviously, was the Jeep donated by dealership or something?
(…) No. Oh, that’s our goal. So if anyone knows anybody, that’s our goal. But at this point, our our title sponsor is Rockwall Dodge.(…) And they have given us a fantastic deal on our Jeep. And they’ve also they’re also a sponsor. They’re our title sponsor of this event. And then our Jeep this year is a little different than it’s been in years past. OK.(…) We have one of our other sponsors is Platinum Offroad.
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And it is run by Mike Etherington. And he has partnered with TerraFlex and Nitto tires and Falcon Shocks and Rockwall Dodge. And they have modified this Jeep. And here we go. She began pretty and now she’s even prettier. Yeah.
Now she’s got some possibilities. And yes, I think she can do off road.
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She has 35 inch wheels and tires now.(…) And then she lifted. She has Falcon Shocks. I call her a she.
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That’s OK. You can do that.
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So this Jeep is beautiful. And it’s a it’s a four door and the color is granite crystal. And it’s got pretty gray. Mm hmm. Black interior.(…) And now it’s lifted with a nice suspension and shocks. Can you tell I don’t really know a lot. You know what?
Because we want to send people to your site. Do you have a website or do you have a place where they can go to first off to buy ducks? I’m going to encourage everybody listening at least by one duck. You got nothing to lose. It’s ten dollars people. Come on. Yes.
Where do they need to go?
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Go to Rockwall Duck Race dot org.
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Rockwall is the town that we are in, which is the east of Dallas. So Rockwall Duck Race dot org. And you can adopt your ducks there. And we actually created a discount code for Chick Chat.
Yeah. I love that. We love discount codes. OK. All right, people. Listen up. Here you go.
So you can get 10 percent off of any number of ducks. So we have we have Quack Pack, which would be a five pack or an anniversary pack, which would be a 10 pack. And you can get 10 percent off of all duck purchases by putting in the promo code J.T.S. as in Jeep Talk Show. J.T.S.(…) Chick Chat. So that’s J.T.S. Chick. C-H-I-C and chat. C-H-A-T.
J.T.S. Chick Chat. Well, that’s such a great offer that you’ve done for us. So all of our listeners, we need to do it. I mean, let’s be supportive. We’re going to support both of these organizations. Let’s show them our support from the Jeep Talk Show. I love this. I can’t wait. Gosh, I wish I live closer. I would love to come watch this because now I’m so excited how those ducks make it all the way down. That’s just so interesting to me.
So it’s great. It’s a lot of fun. And the edges of the fountain become quite full. That are there. And then our Facebook and Instagram page becomes quite full of people that are ready for the streaming of what we’re doing. And so it’s a fun day. And the weather is beautiful.
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And it’s, knock on wood, the weather will be beautiful.
I was like, wow, you can predict that right now? I am all going. I mean, come on.
I put it out there.
Well, it’s cooler in Texas by October, isn’t it? Yeah, you don’t have the humidity either, right?
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Right. And Dallas, it will be a really, I mean, last year, if we were to base it on last year, it was October 14th last year and it was a perfect, perfect Saturday. So this year is October 12th and I’m putting it out there. It will be a perfect, perfect Saturday.
I think it’s going to be and we’re going to send that images. So let’s talk a little bit about what you do for fun when you’re not involved in this race. Do you have a Jeep yourself? Do you off-road a little bit? I know.
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I wish that I did. I really, really do. In fact, I’ve got a 14 year old who we’re in the conversations now about his first car. Yeah. And I thought, I would really like to get him a Jeep. Yeah. And then I thought, or I could just give him my car and I get the Jeep.
I like that idea better.
I did too. I did too. So, but at this point I do not, but I am in all of the Jeep clubs and I know lots and lots of Jeepers and it’s just such an amazing group of, of just giving and kindhearted people. Yeah.
It’s amazing what the community does. I mean, from helping people to these kinds of organizations, like you said, you have people coming from all over to help you.(…) Do you get to go on any of the Jeep runs with these clubs that you belong to? Have you been in someone else’s Jeep and rode some of those trails?
I have been in other people’s Jeeps, but I have not been on any of the trails at this point.
Well, I think it’s time to up your game. I think you need to connect with somebody and say, I was told by this other girl from California who said, Hey, I need to go out on a trail run. I think I need to go on a trail and go experience it because once you do, I think that’ll make your decision that your son’s getting your old car and you’re going to get the new Jeep.
I think you’re right. I think you are right. And I’m not opposed to it. I’m very willing to do it. It’s unfortunately right here in our area. You have to drive at least about an hour and a half to get to anywhere that has some substantial. But that’s
pretty typical, believe it or not. Yeah. Most people even here in Southern California, I mean, we’ve got some great, great trails that we wheel to. I happen to live about five minutes from Gold Mountain, which always gets Tony because he loves that area.(…) Yeah. But most people are driving a good hour, hour and a half to get up to our trails. OK. And if we want to get off the mountain and go to the desert or some other trails, it’s a good hour, hour and a half. So I don’t think that can be an excuse anymore, Mary. I’m sorry. I’m just going to let you have an excuse.(…) That’s fair. That’s fair. I know. I just you pack a lunch. If you listen to the Jeep talk show, I do whole segments and newbie nuggets on when you’re brand new and what to take. So you’ll be prepared. So you can check that out. But for the most part, you’re just going to go and have fun. And if someone else is wheeling, you’re going to get out and watch them do so. And you’re talking major obstacles. You’re just talking about getting on and seeing some beautiful scenery.(…) You have a chance to go through water sometimes. You can trees. Maybe there’s mud in that area. I’m not sure. But you’re just going to have an opportunity to do and see things that you can’t see from the regular car. If that kind of makes sense.
I love it. I love it. I would love to try it. I’ll if anybody, anybody in this listening area is willing to let me ride along. I’m happy to well,
be careful what you ask for because it’ll happen. I know it will. And then I’m going to say, I’m sorry. I know I pushed you to try and you’re going to be like, I want my own Jeep now. I have to buy my own Jeep. Exactly. Well, especially if you bring your son along, he’s going to go, Mom, what are you waiting for? He will think about it, too. You know, you have the opportunity to go anywhere for the most part in those vehicles. Why not? Check it out. Why not? Very cool. So what else do you do for fun other than organizing this this event?
Oh, gosh. Well, I have three kids.(…) So I’m busy. Yes, I have identical twin girls that are nine. I like my kids. Yes. And then I have my 14 year old son. OK. And I play tennis whenever I can.
Good.
And, you know, I’m trying to talk my husband into joining me in a pickleball league.
So it’s fun and it’s very active, by the way.
It is.(…) I typically play tennis mostly, but I thought it would be a good way for he and I to kind of bridge the gap in the skill sets from from tennis to pickleball.
So it’s either that or you’re going to really love each other or not. What?
Right.
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Right.
But I go either way with sports. You know how that goes.
It definitely can.
It’s especially if you’re beating him, it could go a whole other way.
It in the past, it has.(…) So I think your pickleball would be an easier option for us. Cool. But that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That’s good. And then we do a lot. I work a lot with the with Grace Clinic and we do this event and we do a couple of other events. And so it’s a it’s a very fulfilling, fulfilling role for me. And so I tend to spend more time here than I probably should.
Well, if somebody wanted to get involved, the Grace Clinic, how would they reach out to you for that?
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They can visit our website at RockwallGraceClinic.org or they can go on our Facebook page or reach out to me directly, which I can provide all of my direct information
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now or or later.(…) You let me know.
Very cool.
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I love that. I just think it’s really nice that you guys are putting on this event. I’m recommending everybody that’s listening to please participate. Even if you live as far as I do in California, I can still buy a duck. And it sounds like I might have a really good chance this year.
So yes, yes, we have
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this year, our duck sales are trending a bit lower,(…) you know, and that just tends to happen in an election year. And, you know, in the economy, I don’t you know, it’s a it’s a challenging time. And we understand that completely. And so things are trending a little lower this year. And so if you are interested, you have a very good chance. You have a very good chance.
I was just going to say, so you’re going to say we have a chance.
Yes, you do. I love your odds are great. Your odds are great at this point. And and with your discount code, you can get 10 bucks for 90 bucks. I love that. Yeah. And and it’s, you know, that’s 10 chances that you’ll have to get the brand new Jeep. I like it.
So is there anything else you want to say about your event?
(…) I forgot you mentioned a poker run and I forgot we have a poker run as well at the event. And so we we have vendors and sponsors. And so the event is in this big area. OK. We thought, OK, how about we do a poker run that is, you know, confined to the event itself and access the cards that you need for your hand, you just visit with other vendors that are on that.
And your vendors must have loved it too, because that’s what they want. They’re spending money to be there. Yeah. I want you to come by and check out their products. I like that idea.
That’s a great idea.
So we’ve got and we have prizes for all of the things that we do, the five categories of the show and shine, the biggest flex on the RTI ramp. Then we have, you know, the prize for the poker run. And so it’s it’s not just a Jeep that we’re giving away. We’re giving away hundreds and hundreds of dollars in prizes for people participating in the fun. So we’ve got some great vendors and some great sponsors out there. So it’s really if you’re in the, you know, the well, if you’re anywhere in Texas, it’s you know, what I’ve learned a lot about the Jeep Group is that they don’t mind driving. They will drive anywhere.
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So we’ve got hotel discounts that are set up and we have it’s just tons of fun. And Saturday, October 12th, come and see us. Then why
don’t you give us the the link again so they can check that out.
OK, so to get to our website, you can go to rockwallduckrace.org and then you’ll adopt your deck there and be sure to put your promo code J.T.S. Chick Chat and you will get 10 percent off of your deck purchases. And you might be driving home in that 20 24 Jeep Wrangler.
That would be awesome. So well, thank you so much for coming on. I love having you. We love hearing about this event. We always want to promote any time we can do that to benefit other organizations. So thank you so much. Thank you. And you guys, thanks for this episode of Chick Chat. I hope you guys have been inspired. Please reach out.(…) Get a duck for ten dollars. You might win a Jeep. I mean, you can’t lose, right? And not you’re benefiting other people. So remember, there’s no limits to what you can achieve when you embrace your passion and fearlessly chase those dreams. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe to the Jeep Talk Show so you’ll never miss an episode. Remember to embrace the thrill of the off road, embody your own unique style and always keep pushing the boundaries of what you thought possible because anything is possible.
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You’re my friend, you’re my new friend.