750 Toy Boats Set Sail in Wickford Cup Race

Sunday afternoon in Wickford's Updike Park, paint was being applied to small faces at the face-painting tent and to paper at the art lesson tent.

Dozens of children and their adults tried out jewelry making and games, listened to a DJ with hours of oldies to offer and tested small plastic boats in a kiddie pool. At tables, volunteers did a brisk business selling raffle tickets and "renting" toy boats at $5 each to sail in the race.

Across Brown Street, vendors displayed goods and sold food. Throughout the village center, folks of all ages waited for 3 p.m. – the turning of the tide and the release of 750 small, numbered plastic boats.

"Will there be a cannon?" asked one volunteer around 3:15 p.m.

"I'm not sure," replied another.

Boom! The cannon erupted, the plastic noodles confining the boats opened, and the miniature flotilla began to move from the pond behind , under the Brown Street bridge, to the finish line near the .

The , sponsored by the North Kingstown Chamber of Commerce Charitable Foundation, is still totalling the proceeds, said Karla Driscoll, the chamber's executive director, on Monday. The proceeds benefit the North Kingstown Food Pantry, local scholarships and a school mentoring program.

"All the money raised stays in town," Driscoll noted.

A boat sponsored by NK resident Matt Henson came in first, netting $1,000 for its "captain." Fannie Verdi, "a grandchild of NK residents - Sheila and Bob Verdi," says Driscoll, won the $500 second-place prize. Organizers are still seeking third-place winner Grace Standley, who left no address or phone number, to claim her $250 award.

Another dozen and a half winners won gift certificates.

As soon as the race ended volunteers scooped the boats out of the water, to be cleaned and stored for next year's race.

Spectators lounged in the sunshine or drifted to local shops and restaurants. "It's good to have this many people in the village on a Sunday afternoon," Driscoll observed.