Susie the Duck Day is, perhaps, the biggest day of the year for Lodi.  We have been made fun of by some of the best, but we don’t care.  We’re bigger than that.   And… well…  we don’t always take ourselves too seriously.

While Susie the Duck seem like a joke to some famous people from Florida, or a small-town quirk to those from the big cities, she’s rather important to us.  Susie is a reminder of simpler days; she’s a fun and enduring symbol which all of us can recognize and agree with.  She lets us laugh–both with each other, and at ourselves.  After all, things can’t be all bad if you’re able to shake hands with a duck after the parade.

Susie the Duck Day is Lodi’s day to celebrate itself.   The entire town joins in on the fun.   Of course, there’s a parade.  What celebration would be complete without a parade?  Throughout the day, Goeres Park offers up food, music, and games.  And after the parade comes the most important event of the day:  the Duck Derby!

Hundreds of plastic ducks–each numbered and purchased by locals and visitors, alike–are released into Spring Creek from the bridge at the Veterans’ Memorial Park.  With drive and determination, Susie’s distant cousins make their way through the center of town, under Main Street, over waterfalls & through rapids, past Habermann Park, under Fair Street, and into the straightaway to the finish line in Goeres Park.

What can be more exciting than that?

Here are some images from the 2008 Susie the Duck Day. Click a thumbnail to see the full image, or start the slideshow.