STONE HARBOR — According to tradition, the Peabody Hotel Little Rock Marching Ducks will open the 28th Wings ‘N Water Festival by marching into local area schools on Friday, Sept. 17, engaging students with their famous march and a short lesson on wildfowl conservation.
These VIPs (Very Important Poultry) are the mascots of the Wings ‘n Water Festival and will perform several times throughout Festival weekend at the Institute, as well as marching down 96th Street in Stone Harbor on Saturday at 5 PM, with must-see performance.
In 1933, the general manager of the Peabody in Memphis, Tennessee, returned from a duck hunting trip and decided to play a practical joke on the hotel guests by placing some of his live duck decoys (it was legal then for hunters to use live decoys) in the hotel’s beautiful marble fountain.
The hotel guests loved the show, and the prank resulted in the founding of a great tradition. In 1940 a former circus animal trainer choreographed the famous march and he became the very first Duckmaster, leading the ducks down a red carpet to the tune of John Phillip Sousa’s “King Cotton March.” When off-duty, the performing ducks live in their Royal Duck Palace on the hotel’s rooftop.
The five-duck team consists of one drake (male) with a white collar and green head, and four hens (females) with less colorful plumage. All five are North American mallards, the best-known and most recognizable of all duck species. Peabody ducks are raised by a local farmer, and each group of ducks lives in the hotel for only three months before retiring their lives of fame, and returning to the farm to live out their remaining days as wild ducks.
The Peabody Ducks have gained wide media attention, appearing on the Oprah Winfrey show, Sesame Street, the Tonight Show as well as in many magazines and newspapers. These marching ducks have become the mascots for habitat conservation, especially in support of migratory wildfowl habitat conservation and preservation through the Federal Duck Stamp Art Contest, as well as the wildlife refuge system of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Department.
Cape May – Governor Murphy says he doesn't know anything about the drones and doesn't know what they are doing but he does know that they are not dangerous. Does anyone feel better now?
