Highly trained and motivated rubber shrimp will mount their inner tubes and take to the water on October 1, 2016 as the Sea Island Rotary Club presents the 8th Annual Charity Shrimp Race held along the sea wall at Henry Chambers Waterfront Park, during the Beaufort Shrimp Festival.
“The Shrimp Race is a fun event for the Club to present and for the spectators to watch”, says Paul Moore, Rotary Club President. More importantly, the proceeds from the event go to support the Smile Mobile; our mobile dental clinic that will help the under-served population of Beaufort and Jasper County. The proceeds from last year’s race are helping to purchase equipment needed for the clinic, while proceeds from this year will allow us to begin operating the clinic. The goal of the Smile Mobile is to relieve the pain and suffering associated with ongoing dental problems; problems that can keep adults out of work, or children out of school.”
The race begins around 3 pm when 5,000 rubber shrimp wearing inner tubes are released from the nets of an authentic shrimp trawler into the Beaufort River. The shrimp float along in tidal current to the finish line. Each shrimp wears a unique number corresponding to one of the numbers on a purchased adoption ticket.
The shrimp have been training all summer and are anxiously awaiting the chance at being the first across the finish line. The first 10 shrimp to cross the finish line share $5,000 in cash prizes AND the first 100 have a chance to win an additional ‘Grand Prize’. If any of the first 100 finishing shrimp matches the “lucky number,” the adopter of that shrimp wins their choice of a car or boat worth $39,000! The lucky number is selected at random by a third-party insurance provider before the race.
Adoption tickets are on sale now and are available online at www.RotaryShrimpRace.com and from any Sea Island Rotary member.
Sea Island Rotary Club is a part of Rotary International, a worldwide organization of 1.2 million members dedicated to improving education, health and living conditions worldwide. The Rotary motto is “Service above Self.” For more information visit: RotaryShrimpRace.com
