PUT-IN-BAY, Ohio – There are mallard ducks in Lake Erie, canvasback ducks and wood ducks. And coming soon: the world’s largest rubber duck.
The bright yellow plastic duck, measuring 61 feet high, 64 feet wide and 74 feet long, will make her Put-in-Bay debut next month, at the intersection of Langram and Meechen roads, on the southern side of the island, near the airport.
Mama Duck, as she’s affectionately known, will be receiving fans from Aug. 1 through Aug. 3. The event is free.
The duck was invited to Put-in-Bay by the Perry Group, the nonprofit organization that supports Perry’s Victory and International Peace Memorial, the National Park Service site that commemorates the successful Battle of Lake Erie during the War of 1812.
Marc Burr, president of the Perry Group, said the organization came up with the duck idea in part to entice more families to visit the island. “Once we get them here, we can show them there’s more than the party atmosphere,” he said.
“Everybody had a duck in the tub growing up,” he added. “It’s nostalgic. It’s just a fun thing.”
Alas, Mama Duck will not be swimming to the island, said Burr.
An early incarnation of the duck floated, but more recent versions have been nonswimmers. “Now it comes in a special nesting wagon, in a trailer,” said Burr.
The duck is the brainchild of Craig Samborski, a live-event planner who came up with the idea to supplement a tall ships event in Los Angeles more than a decade ago. Samborski also helped plan Put-in-Bay’s bicentennial commemoration of the Battle of Lake Erie in 2013.
Mama Duck currently travels throughout the United States in the summer, drawing large crowds wherever she goes.
The Perry Group will be offering games and activities alongside the duck, plus souvenir “Don’t Give Up the Ship” mini-ducks, a reference to the words emblazoned on the battle flag of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry aboard the USS Niagara in 1813. For details: theperrygroup.org, millerferry.com
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