DETROIT, MI (WXYZ) — The Detroit skyline gained a new addition this past week.
She's tall, yellow, and shaped like a rubber duck. In fact, her name is Mama Duck and she is the world's largest rubber duck to exist.
Mama Duck has been in town for the North American International Auto Show and outside of the cars, she's been a main attraction.
Many people say they have made a point to stop by and go see her just to see if she's really as big as the pictures make her seem.
“Never thought I would see a rubber duck that big before in my life,” one passerby said.
So how big is she?
According to Craig Samborski, the owner of Mama Duck, Mama is around 61 feet high, 64 feet wide, and 74 feet long.
She weighs around 8,000 pounds and it takes around 90 minutes to inflate and deflate her.
“So I think there’s a lot more to it than I think meets the eye,” Samborski said.
Mama Duck has been breaking the record for the world's largest rubber duck since 2014.
And the idea for her came about as many ideas do: with a drink and a friend.
“After you’ve had enough beers most any idea sounds good," Samborski said. "And I thought that was a really good idea.”
Craig, who spent the bulk of his career as an event planner, said after getting drinks with a colleague one night, the two decided that he needed to create something bigger than ever before.
“Well, I woke up the next morning like, 'Oh my gosh what did I commit to last night?'”
He committed to making the largest rubber duck the world has ever seen.
“It doesn’t have a lot of competition. I think when people look into what the cost is to do one of these they’re like oh yeah, I don't think we’ll do that."
According to Craig, the 61 feet duck made of rubber and vinyl cost upwards of 6 figures to make.
And when asked why a rubber duck to begin with, his answer was quite simple.
“You can show a rubber duck to a kid in New Zealand and a kid in England and they know exactly what it is. You don't even need to say the name. I can’t think of a lot of things in the world that you can do that with and that’s one of the appeals of the duck.”
So far, Mama duck has traveled to Los Angeles, Long Island, Philadelphia, Seattle, Detroit, and more. But after her visit to the motor city, she’s going to take a break and head back to Minnesota.
To get a view of Mama before she leaves, head over to Huntington Place by September 25. I guarantee you won't miss her.
