The World’s Largest Rubber Duck Visits Put-In-Bay

Ohio is no stranger to super-sized objects — from Cleveland’s enormous rubber stamper to Columbus’s giant gavel to Sugarcreek’s massive cuckoo clock. It’s only natural that the World’s Largest Rubber Duck would eventually make its way here. From Aug. 1 through 3, the bright yellow colossus visits Put-In-Bay courtesy of the Perry Group, the nonprofit group that supports the Perry’s Victory & International Peace Memorial on South Bass Island. 

“Ninety nine percent [of people] probably had a little rubber duck in the bathtub when they were growing up. So, everybody can kind of identify with a little rubber duck, right?” Marc Burr, president of the Perry Group. 

In 2014, a group of tall-ship festival organizers that included Burr couldn’t get the vessel they wanted for an event in Los Angeles. So instead, they went for something a bit more universal — they constructed the world’s largest rubber duck. Clocking in at a whopping 61 feet tall, the World’s Largest Rubber Duck has since travelled the country, from bays in Oregon to Toronto to Michigan.

“People in Put-In-Bay knew that I was involved with this. They go, ‘Hey, when’ll you bring in the duck?” Burr says. “So the Perry Group decided, well, let's just have it. It will bring people to the island — moms and dads and kids.”

While the duck has been on the water before, it’ll be grounded in Put-in-Bay, anchored to a spot at the corner of Meechen and Langram roads. Visitors can play games to win their own littler rubber ducks, or purchase “Don’t Give Up the Ship”-themed ducks to support the Perry Group’s work with the National Park Service at Perry’s Victory & International Peace Memorial.

Kids and adults alike are delighted by the World’s Largest Rubber Duck. Burr says some dress up in full bath attire — back scrubbers, shower bonnets and bathrobes — just to get a picture.

"Everybody's laughing and telling stories, and little kids are pointing at it, running up. That's the most fun,” Burr says.

For more information about The Perry Group or the World's Largest Rubber Duck's visit to Put-In-Bay, visit theperrygroup.org

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