DUCK CREEK — Duck Creek Days, which started in 1981 as a chili cook-off and get-together for the
kids, returns for its 27th year on Friday and Saturday in the meadow behind Duck Creek Village.
Now an event that includes countless vendors along with entertainment, this year’s gathering
is expected to draw thousands.
We used to draw about 200-300 people,” recalled Dianne Hanna-Rudnicki, who doubles as a Las Vegas resident when not operating as the associate broker for Mountain Man Realty in Duck Creek Village. “I can remember the first Duck Creek Days event. It was just a friendly crowd that got together, and we pretty much knew each other. We had crock pot chili and games for the kids in the meadow.
“As the years went by, people would call to make sure they knew when it was going to be. Everything in
the village is rented months in advance.”
Hanna-Rudnicki said old-time Duck Creek cabin owners decided to start their own chili cook-off
after seeing a promotion at Strawberry in about 1962 that was very successful.
“Milt Farney was a developer,” she said. “He would get groups from California to fly to the airstrip in
beautiful Strawberry Valley and look at properties. His idea was successful, and at the time most of the people
there were pilots. Milt sold a lot of land by inviting people to Strawberry. Many people here also had common
interests in aviation, and decided to start the chili cook-off.”
Hanna-Rudnicki hasn’t been involved in the planning of Duck Creek Days for several years, but she
wouldn’t miss the event just the same. However, she is now back in the saddle handling ticket and shirt
sales along with the plastic ducks used in races along the creek.
“The duck races are the darnedest part of Duck Creek Days,” she laughed. “There are hundreds of little
ducks floating down the stream while their owners are rooting them on. It’s really one of the most colorful
events of the event, which has $150 first prize, $100 to second and $50 to first place.”
The monies raised from Duck Creek Days go directly back into the village for improvements. The net proceeds will help with major improvements under the Community Spirit Wall Project umbrella, including widening the ATV/snowmobile trail and parking area to 12 feet; repairing the drainage; marking designated entry/ exit locations onto the main village road and retaining the current eroding parking area to make a wall of attractive landscaping and paver stone.
Money from the event two years ago was used to purchase a groomer for snow mobile enjoyment.
Hanna-Rudnicki is not the only original member of the Duck Creek Days group.
Native Nebraskan Mike Kenner of Duck Creek Realty has lived in Duck Creek since 1980 and remembers
well the first Duck Creek Days.
“It was a fun gettogether,” Kenner recalled. “We had the bar atmosphere along with the chili
cook-off and people from Las Vegas would schedule their summer around the date. We had nice bands
like The Millionaires and Justice from Cedar City. I play a little guitar, so I used to play ‘Jumpin’ Jack Flash.’”
Kenner said the event evolved from the bands and chili to more kids events. The addition of vendors
with crafts and foods began to become more popular about 10 years ago. He said people from Las Vegas and all over Southern Utah still
attend the event every year.
Bonnie and Jerry Koller of Duck Creek Realty moved to Duck Creek in 1979, and Bonnie was a judge in the highly-competitive chili cook-off for about 10 years.
“The chili cook-off just kept growing and growing,” she said. “They started going by international rules (no beans) and it got very serious. People came from all over for the chili-cookoff. It was huge in 1998. The people selling the chili and handcrafts out of their booths made great money selling their products, and came from all over the nation each year to compete.”
Mike Henle is a Las Vegas-based freelance writer and author of the book “Through the Darkness: One Man’s Fight to Overcome Epilepsy.” He can be contacted at mhenle@aol.com or through his Web site www.mikehenle.com.
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