Everyone wanted a picture with a 10-foot-tall rubber ducky squatting on the Spring Street steps of Los Angeles City Hall Friday.
The bright yellow, inflatable ducky is wandering the city in search of its mother as part of a promotional stunt for the Tall Ships Festival taking place Aug. 20-24 at the Port of Los Angeles.
The ducky is headed next to the entrance of the Los Angeles Zoo tonight, but rumor has it the “six-story tall” mom — measuring about 60 feet high and dubbed by event organizers as the world’s largest rubber ducky — will make her appearance at the five-day festival.
City Council members who joined passersby and, at one point, a group of U.S. Navy officers to take pictures with the unusual sight, said the baby duck is meant to get people excited about the upcoming festival, which will feature more than a dozen historic ships, music and food.
Councilman Joe Buscaino, who represents the port area, said the antics of the mom and baby ducks ahead of the event will also serve as a “magnet” to bring people to the Los Angeles Waterfront area.
Before mother and child are reunited, the public will have several opportunities to greet the baby duck at various locations that will be disclosed on the waterfront’s Twitter feed (https://twitter.com/LAWaterfront), Instagram site (http://instagram.com/lawaterfront), and Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/lawaterfront).
Echo Park Lake is one of several likely destinations, with Councilman Mitch O’Farrell making a request today to have the baby duck make a stop there.
The mother ducky, the latest and largest created by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman, will make its temporary home at the Los Angeles port throughout the festival. Versions of the giant ducky also have visited harbors in Hong Kong, Sydney, Amsterdam, London and Azerbaijan.
— City News Service