BUFFALO, NY-- The World's Largest Rubber Duck is coming to Buffalo
Canalside announced Wednesday "Mama Duck" will part of the Maritime Festival, which runs August 26-28.
"Mama Duck" is over six stories high and weighs 11 tons. She floats on a steel pontoon.
"Mama Duck", who was created by Craig Samborski, first started at Tall Ships in Los Angeles and has traveled to Philadelphia and Long Island. In addition to Buffalo, she will also be visiting Syracuse and Erie, PA this summer.
Samborski says while Canalside called him to ask him to bring her here, he's known about the Maritime Festival for a couple of years and it's always intrigued him.
Mama Duck arrives by truck, and it takes about eight hours to attach her to her steel pontoon. Then, she's lifted into the water and it takes three high intensity blowers another three hours to inflate her.
Samborski says once she's inflated, you can get close, but not too close.
"She's the equivalent of probably sixty sailboats at once in her sail area, so if there's a breeze blowing, she moves around a little bit and at 23-thousand pounds she can do some damage of she hits something, so we try and encourage boaters to keep a relatively safe distance. We like people to certainly get close, but depending what weather and wind conditions are, we do our best to enforce that 25 foot safety zone around her," says Samborski.
"Mama Duck" won't be traveling to Buffalo alone. Her duckling Timmy will be in town as well. He stands 10 feet tall.