Another year.

Another record. And it’s all to benefit Kingfisher Public Schools’ students and staff.

A total of 768 ducks were placed into the water last Friday at K-Town Kove to take part in the annual KEF Duck Race.

That number not only smashed the goal set by the foundation this year, but also crushed the record number of duck sales from last year.

“This year truly exceeded my expectations,” said David Blair, KEF board of directors president.

The ducks raced their way across the pool at the Vernie Snow Aquatic Center and the first to reach the finish line was one purchased by Kingfisher Junior High. First place was awarded $1,000.

The second-place duck belonged to Collin Farrar. The prize for second was $500.

Third place was purchased by Stephenson Insurance Center. It paid $300.

Even the loser was a winner. The last place duck, which earned $100, was purchased by Katy Buckner.

The goal was for the KEF to sell 700 ducks. Those were lofty expectations considering last year’s record of 630.

That beat the 2023 mark of 562, which had eclipsed the previous record of 502 in 2020.

But now those records are long gone and so is the record for money raised.

When the KEF sold more than 630 a year ago, it raised $31,500.

But this year the foundation got a massive head start on the fundraising efforts.

Boeckman Ford, Jacksons of Kingfisher and Johnsons of Kingfisher - the city’s three automobile dealerships - began the campaign with donations of $5,000 each.

On top of that, Diversified Energy also donated $5,000.

“On behalf of the board, I want to say a special thanks to each of these businesses for their amazing generosity in giving back to their community,” Blair said.

Joining Blair on the KEF board are Vice President Zac Kannady, Secretary Heath Redwine, Treasurer Joe Voth and members Jeff Wilcox, Kristi Hyatt, Jennifer Farrar, Tanya Cameron, Whitney Johnson, Alberto Sanchez, Sr., and Mark Andrews.

Together, they raised $58,400, which dwarfed last year’s amount.

“Our board really worked hard to reach out to our local businesses and individuals to sell the most ducks in our history,” Blair said. “We have a great community who supports our school district and our teachers and I want to thank each person and business for supporting us this year.”

Blair added that the help goes beyond those serving with the KEF to make the Duck Race such a huge annual success. Among those he mentioned for aiding in the record-breaking year were: • Barry Reid, publisher at the KT&FP, “for collaborating with our local dealerships” to get the campaign started with the initial donations and also for the promotion of the event in the newspaper and on its Facebook page; • Storm & Hauser for helping reconcile all the duck sales; • Savana Storey, the K-Town Kove manager, and Fire Chief Ryan Gibson “and our great fire department for helping us race our ducks across our state-of-the-art aquatic center; • Kyle Coughlan for do- nating this year’s trophies to the winners; • Jack Quirk for digital marketing efforts and video and podcast production to promote the race; • Shauna Rupp and the Kingfisher Chamber of Commerce “for giving us the opportunity to lead this year’s Kingfisher Fourth of July parade as grand marshals.”

The KEF has its own social media presence and this year the foundation’s Facebook page was flooded with updates on duck sales and other content to promote the race and selling of the ducks.

The person behind that, Blair said, was Ellen Wilfong.

“I want to say a special thanks to her for donating her time and creativity to come up with this year’s theme of ‘The Race is On’ and coordinating our first-ever KEF Duck Race video,” Blair said. “She put in many hours creating incredible content on our social media platforms to tell our story and show our community the various ways KEF makes an impact.

“We would not have been as successful without Ellen and the many other supporters who helped make this year’s fundraiser our best ever.”

Although the KEF takes donations year-round, this is its lone fundraiser.

The money is placed into the foundation’s endowment fund that, in turn, produces annual interest payments paid back to the foundation.

Those payments are used to fund teacher grants each December.

The grants are to help teachers with needs that may not be in the KPS operating budget.

Last year, the KEF awarded $56,000 in grants. Blair said when this year’s Duck Race campaign started in June that the KEF hopes to award another $50,000 to $55,000 in grants again this year.