Tenth Anniversary of The Rice Cake Race

This year marks the 10th anniversary of a remarkable annual BCWWA event – The Rice Cake Race. The origins of this fun and unique activity go back to the 1993 BCWWA conference in Vernon when a group of people were discussing how to raise monies for charity. As the conference hotel had a stream winding through it, it was thought that this interesting feature could be used to hold some type of fun watercourse race. The group wanted to organize something along the lines of a rubber ducky race, but instead of a non-recyclable, they opted for… rice cakes! Entries into the race were purchased and each entrant was assigned a number corresponding to their rice cake (each cake was numbered by hand!). After the race, the owner of the ‘fastest cake’ was announced and awarded a prize.

As the event grew in popularity, some concerns were raised regarding the effects of rice cakes being released into potentially sensitive waterways. Rather than discontinue the race, Leon Cake, one of the Rice Cake Race founders, designed and built a contained race course which could be dismantled and transported to various locations. Last year, this new course was unveiled and was a great success.

In the first year, money raised was donated to a local charity, but in the years to follow, a decision was made that Water for People should be the worthy recipient of the proceeds. Over the years, thousands of dollars have been raised and the number of rice cakes sold continues to increase. Last year, just over 400 cakes were sold, prompting the organizers to unofficially dub this year’s race the “Rice Cake 500”!

Leon takes pride and receives enjoyment from working closely with the other Water For People committee members and would like to thank all of the people who have been helpful and supportive of the Rice Cake Race over the years - especially the McCabe family, Catherine Gibson and Steve McDonald, with extra special thanks to Lucy Ethier for her enthusiastic support in tough times.

Water for People/Water for People Canada is a nonprofit, nondenominational international development organization, founded in 1991 by members of the American Water Works Association (AWWA), and as Water for People Canada in 1995 to help the most impoverished people worldwide improve their quality of life by supporting sustainable drinking water, sanitation and hygiene projects. To learn more about Water for People, the WFP committee and our events, check us out at www.bcwwa.org/committees/peoplewater/ index.htm.