ST. LOUIS – A woman’s determined campaign to bring the World’s Largest Rubber Duck to St. Louis has captured significant attention. Scarlett Horton recently posted on the Collinsville Connection, urging residents to join her in requesting the World’s Largest Rubber Duck to make a stop in St. Louis.
Horton expressed her enthusiasm, stating in an interview with FOX 2, “Honestly, I love seeing The World’s Largest things and take the opportunity to drive off the beaten path for a “world’s largest” whenever I can. I even live in Collinsville now, right down the road from the world’s largest ketchup bottle. So when I found out about this duck, I knew I needed to see it.”
A giant inflatable rubber duck floats past the USS Iowa battleship at the Port of Los Angeles on Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2014. The world-famous sculpture sailed into the port for the first time Wednesday to kick off the Tall Ships Festival LA and will remain in the harbor through Sunday. The duck was designed by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman and at 61 feet high, 110 feet long 85 feet wide is the largest rubber duck in the world. Hofman debuted the sculpture in 2007 and has since created several of them to sail around the world to places including China, Hong Kong and New Zealand. (AP Photo/Nick Ut )
“I’ve been planning a lengthy road trip for my honeymoon later this year and came across the duck while researching roadside attractions. I posted to a few local neighborhood Facebook pages pretty immediately when I found out you could request the duck to come to your city,” said Horton.
Following her post in the Collinsville Facebook group, the Edwardsville Intelligencer picked up the story, leading to widespread popularity for Horton’s request.
“I didn’t give a lot of thought to it, honestly. But I did hope that if enough people in the area sent a request for the duck to visit, it would compel the people in charge of planning the duck’s route to put St. Louis on their tour list,” she said. “The whole experience of seeing others get excited about this duck has been such a delight, though.”
Although Horton’s request for the duck’s visit to St. Louis primarily stems from her personal desire to witness it, her closing arguments to get the public to vote are: “I like big ducks, and I cannot lie.”
To join her campaign, please visit TheBigDuck.us and use the “Contact Us” link to voice your support for the duck’s arrival in St. Louis.