The Peabody Hotel in Memphis, Tennesee has a very interesting tradition, a march of the ducks each day at 11:00am. There are 5 ducks, 1 drake and 4 hens, that take the elevator down from their penthouse duck mansion to waddle down the red carpet up a step and then into the fountain in the lobby of the hotel.
Video of the ducks leaving (click to view)
Apparently this all started as a prank when the general manager and a hunting buddy after a night of drinking Tennesee sipping whisky (Jack Daniels) decided it would be fun to put their live decoy ducks in the hotel fountain. They went to sleep, came back in the morning and there was a crowd. Thus, a tradition was born. I can attest to the fact that the lobby was full this morning for the duck parade and that’s got to be good for business.
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Peabody Ducks
09.19.06 | 5 Comments
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Are the ducks now “retired” from being decoys, living their days only between the penthouse and the lobby “pool”? As a kid, I spent lots of time saving the fish, birds, and groundhogs my brothers had “other” plans for – I hope there’s someone doing that for the ducks! (ok, so I’m such a “girl”…)
Well, those ducks are long gone. The current ducks come in to perform in the hotel for a few years, then retire to the country according to the management here. It’s an incredibly funny tradition.
Well, good grief, I thought YOU took the video! It is a great tradition, but every four year old and me are going to want to know what happens to those ducks! “Retiring to the country” is a great answer, I won’t wonder if the very last stop for them is “country house” dining room table. 🙂
Ha! That’s funny, I imagine since they’re placed back into the wild there is a fair chance of becoming Sunday dinner. That particular video was posted on YouTube about 3 months ago, it shows the same ducks I saw yesterday. Didn’t bring a video camera with me, thus reduced to linking like the duck video.
Dear Friends, Happy April Fool’s Day!!!
My wife invited some people to dinner. At the table, she turned to our six-year-old daughter and said, “Would you like to say the blessing?”
“I wouldn’t know what to say,” she replied.
“Just say what you hear Mommy say,” my wife said.
Our daughter bowed her head and said: “Dear Lord, why on earth did I invite all these people to dinner?”
Happy April Fool’s Day!