The Giant Rubber Duck: Pittsburgh Edition

By: Kaitlin Swick

 Pittsburgh is home to many glorious sights and known for many things. Pittsburgh is the City of Bridges, the home to the delicious Heinz industry, the real Gotham City, the City of Champions, the home of Andy Warhol, and the place where we don’t say Primanti Brothers, we say “Permanees”. However, for the next month, Pittsburgh will be known for something else; some other major attraction that one will only be able to see here in Pittsburgh right now. I would like to introduce you to the giant rubber duck!

 If you have been in downtown Pittsburgh lately, you might have seen a giant yellow duck floating in the river, after all an enormous yellow duck floating in the river is pretty hard to miss. This colossal duck is 40 feet tall and 30 feet wide.  It arrived in Pittsburgh on September 27th, 2013.  This duck was created by Florentijn Hofman, a Dutch artist who lives in Rotterdam. The “tour” of the giant duck started in 2007 in St. Nazaire, France. The duck recently traveled to the United States for the first time, and decided to rest in Pittsburgh! The arrival of this massive bird marked the start of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust’s Pittsburgh International Festival of Firsts. The duck will be anchored in the Allegheny River until October 20th, 2013.

 This rubber duck is very popular, and has its own Facebook and Twitter account. Of course, Pittsburghers are very pleased that the duck decided make the trip to their hometown, but other people from across the nation are a little jealous that the duck chose to make its national debut in Steeler Nation. If you want to check out the giant rubber duck, just go downtown to the Point. Feel free to take a few pictures, but there is no need to bring your bathing suit, that is if you wanted to take a swim. The duck is being closely monitored and guarded. Also, make sure you check out the little downtown stores to get some ducky merchandise.