By GRAHAM BROOKS / Staff Writer

HELENA–Due to a kind gesture from a local business in Alabaster, Helena’s Buck Creek Festivals’ most popular event, the Duck Race, is no longer in jeopardy.

A little more than two weeks ago, 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.

Knowing that new or used pontoon boats can be quite costly, the committee turned to the community for help and Airport Marine in Alabaster answered the call.

Buck Creek Festival Committee member Ron Holly helped head the search for a replacement pontoon boat.

“We had a lady call us the morning that Airport Marine donated who said she had a boat so we went to take a look and it just wasn’t what we were looking for,” said Holly. “On the way back we decided to stop in Airport Marine and talk to them. They had a 24-footer that had been traded in and they tried to see what they could work out. They ended up donating the boat to us free of charge and it’s actually a little larger than the one we had before. We appreciated it very much and we went ahead and gave them a sponsorship to the festival in a way to return the favor. It was awesome what they did and very appreciated.”

Last year, the Buck Creek Festival debuted a new duck dumper on the side of the pontoon that dropped all the ducks into Buck Creek and the duck dumper will now be placed on the new replacement pontoon to be used in the same fashion for 2016.

The Duck Race is one of the most anticipated events of the Buck Creek Festival and is the most significant fundraiser for the festival, which has donated more than $200,000 to local charities and civic groups through the festival’s 15-year history.

The 15^th annual Buck Creek Festival will be held May 13-14 in Old Town Helena.