Busch's Delivers Duck Race Grand Prize

Amanda Balogh was out of town at Girl Scout camp July 17 when a yellow duck with her number on it finished first in this year's .

It was the first time the 13-year-old student missed the event, held for the past seven years at in Farmington. When she heard about the win, she said, "I was really excited."

On Wednesday, Balogh finally picked up her prize: a gift card that's loaded with $50 each week for a year. The total value of the prize is $2,600.

Amanda's mother, Lynn Halton, said that with a daughter in college, a football-playing son and a foreign exchange student due to arrive this month, "This will really help."

"We feel it's important to give back to the communities we do business in," said Busch's store manager Jonathan Messer.

This is the sixth time the Michigan-based company has offered the Duck Race's grand prize.

Having the Busch's "big ticket" prize helps sell Duck Race tickets, foundation director Barbara Yuhas said.

"It really attracts people, and people are very enthusiastic about buying tickets because it's something everybody needs," she said.

In addition to raising funds for the foundation, local nonprofit groups that sold tickets kept half of what they raised for their efforts. Yuhas said about $5,000 was distributed to those organizations.

"It's not a huge fundraiser for us," she said, "but it's a friend-raiser."