Description: One of the most famous traditions in the American hotel business is now playing in Little Rock. In the late 1930s—so the story goes—the general and assistant managers of The Peabody in Memphis were returning home empty-handed from a duck hunting trip. Arriving late at night with the live ducks they’d (legally) used as decoys, it may have been the influence of some Tennessee whiskey that led to the brilliant idea of releasing the ducks in the hotel fountain. Wherever it came from, they thought differently in the morning, but found an adoring crowd already clustered around the hotel’s new residents.
Seventy years later, the ducks (or their descendants) remain, and have become synonymous with the Peabody. And when the Peabody acquired the former Excelsior Hotel in central Little Rock, part of the renovation included the addition of a marble fountain and family of ducks.
Knowing a good thing when he saw it, that Memphis manager built a ceremony out of what began as a questionable idea. As in Memphis, the Duckmaster—attired in red serge and gold braid—begins the show each morning at 11, telling the story of the ducks and recruiting a crew of junior duckmasters from the crowd to assist (my 11 through 15-year-olds were ready to volunteer, but realized he was looking for a younger crowd). After finishing the presentation and its oratorical flourishes, the Duckmaster departed via glass elevator for the 2nd floor (reserved from 10:30am on for the ducks). The ducks evidently rush on, their heads turning quickly as they surveyed the crowd through the glass wall. Once at ground level, they quickly proceeded down their red-carpteted path, up the stairs, and into the pond, where the Duckmaster had already placed two large piles of food that evidently met with their approval. At 5pm, the whole procession happens in reverse, with the ducks retiring to their quarters.
It was a cold March morning when we were there, but plenty of people (mostly, but not all, with younger kids) were there for the march of the ducks. Like us, most weren’t staying at the hotel, but had come over for the show anyways. My teens and near-teens insisted that we put this on our Little Rock itinerary, and it was a fun 15 minutes. We arrived about 15 minutes early, which wasn’t necessary (except for building anticipation)—there’s a lot of open space around the fountains from which to get a good view. If this isn’t quite enough to bring you downtown, stop at the Old State House right next door, which is a terrific building and museum of Arkansas’ history.
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