Leo Gillick
A candy store in Canonsburg, Pittsburgh, has gone viral after spreading thousands of increasingly large rubber ducks around their local town.
Videos by Rare
The campaign intended to catch the eye of residents and the internet with the influx of ducks. It’s also gone some way to improving the look of the small town over the course of a week or so. It began with tiny ducks, placed here and there, and the number and size slowly grew, along with the mystery.
Get Ducked: Initially, 2,000 tiny rubber ducks appeared around the town, making headlines as the conspiracy began. At this point, nobody knew that the candy store was behind the rubber duck debacle. However, it brought a lot of joy to the Pittsburgh town.
- “While we can’t say for sure who started this ‘fowl play,’ we can say it’s a feather-ruffling reminder that joy can come in the smallest (and squeakiest) of packages,” Canonsburg Borough Manager Angela Senay told CBS.
But the initial 2,000 tiny rubber ducks were just the beginning of the candy store campaign. Only a day or two later, even more arrived around the town. This time they were bigger. Medium-sized ducks turned up on doorsteps, on monuments, and in public spaces.
Still, despite the publicity, the candy store and its employees managed to keep the secret safe.
Mega Ducks
By this point, the mystery had taken hold of the small town, and a total of 4,000 rubber ducks had been placed by the candy store. But nobody knew where they had come from or when the influx of ducks would end.
Bigger is Better: 600 more ducks appeared around the town. These were the largest yet. But, this wasn’t the end of the campaign, and the store had one more massive trick up its sleeve to really make its statement.
- The final midnight effort by the candy store took some serious planning and extra-large rubber ducks. Residents of Canonsburg woke to 10 14-foot-tall inflatable rubber ducks placed on roofs around the city.
It was only then that Grandpa Joe’s Candy Shop came forward and claimed the stunt. They shared their efforts to duckify the town and received plenty of praise for it.
