This is not a tricky question: What state is the Kentucky Derby held in? Full marks if you guessed Kentucky.

Now, try another one: Where is the ConnDucky Derby held? Look at the name for a clue. This one will take place in Chester, Connecticut.

The Chester race will be held on Saturday, May 4, which is Derby day in Kentucky, too, although the Chester participants are not thoroughbreds, the rulers of the race track. The contestants are rubber ducks, the rulers of the bathtub.

This ConnDucky Derby is a fundraiser for the community programs sponsored and supported by Chester Rotary and Homeward Bound Adoptions CT, a Chester-based pet adoption group.

The racing ducks, a class for which no pedigree or blood lines are necessary, will be deposited in the Pattaconk Brook by a front-end loader at the bridge on Main Street in Chester. The race ends some 50 yards later behind the Pattaconk 1850 Bar & Grille.

Ducks are on sale for $5 at the both the Pattaconk and the Little House Brewing Company, both of which are on Main Street, and also on the Chester Rotary’s Facebook page.

Heather Amara-Miles, who has worked at the Pattaconk for 25 years, knows this derby well. The former manager, Rob Galbraith, started the event, and the ducks have always been for sale at the restaurant.

“You can even buy them up to the day,” Heather adds.

Heather also points out that there is a duck for everybody: biker ducks, superhero ducks, helmeted Viking ducks, video-game inspired ducks. Jan Taigen of the Chester Rotary says the group has purchased some 1,000 ducks in all.

Some duck buyers check out which ducks seem to have a more aerodynamic shape. However, Heather is not among them. She is looking for a butterfly duck or a unicorn duck with one added requirement.

“My duck must be pink,” she says.

Main Street in Chester will be closed from 1 to 4 p.m. on May 4 with activities for children, including making their own duck or creating a hat. Just like the Kentucky Derby, adults are also encouraged to wear imaginative hats. Camp Hazen staffers will help children make S’mores.

The race itself, beginning at 2 p.m., will be preceded by a float parade, and these floats will actually float. They will all be pool toys.

Heather started as a server at the Pattaconk over 20 years ago when she was pregnant with her first daughter. That daughter, Ashley Miles, is now the Pattconk’s head bartender. While Heather does not have the title of manager, she says she functions as a manager would.

“I really don’t know why I have stayed so long. I guess it’s because I love the Pattaconk. It’s my home away from home,” she says. “Everybody knows me. Everyone who comes here is family.”

Heather’s own family consists of her husband Rob, two daughters in their 20s, and a 12-year-old son. The age gap in the children comes because Heather and Rick, high school sweethearts in Middletown, married and divorced and then, some four years later, remarried. Heather doesn’t mind talking about it.

“A lot of people know it. Everyone loves that story,” she says.

With a small business grant through the Middlesex Chamber of Commerce, Heather has recently overseen some renovations at the Pattaconk, including new patio furniture, new tabletops, and a new coat of paint in the dining room.

“We are slowly trying to make improvements,” she says.

Still, Heather bristles at the notion that the Pattaconk is a no more than a place for serious drinking and rowdy drinkers.

“People joke about it, but the Pattaconk is not what people imagine it might be,” she says. “There is so much cheer here. It’s a place you can always see a friend, and that’s a special thing.”

According to Heather, most of the customers are families—and they are eating, not drinking.

“We have a wonderful kitchen manager now,” she says

Her own favorite Pattaconk meal is a California quesadilla with chicken, avocado, and cheese.

Heather’s enthusiasm is not just for the restaurant, but also for the community.

“I love this town,” she says.

Heather enjoys her involvement with the Merchants of Chester, and she has just become a member of the Economic Development Commission. She is also a new Chester Cemetery trustee.

Heather’s brother, Ron Amara, recently ran against the current office holder, Cindy Lignar, for first selectman.

The ConnDucky Derby is not just for the glory. Just like that race in Kentucky, the course has winners. The sides of the brook are lines with rope and pool noodles, and there is a backstop of chicken wire to make sure no ducks go too far. Rotary members will grab the first three ducks to float across the line.

“The ducks do separate. It has never been hard to notice the winner,” Taigen says.

The three first finishers get baskets with gift certificates and donated local merchandise.

To the winners go the glory. To everyone else who has purchased a duck, goes the duck, if they want to sort through all of them to find theirs.

If not, the Rotary dries the ducks off to use again next year. Let that be a reminder to all those whose birds have not triumphed in the race—there is always next year.