January 13, 2015

Happy Rubber Ducky Day! It’s just Ducky. Time to make a splash on January 13.

Thirty-five years ago, on Jan. 13, 1970, Ernie the Muppet debuted his “Rubber Ducky” ditty, and the song flew to No. 16 on the Billboard chart. The humble toy, invented before the turn of the 20^th century, became an overnight cultural icon. The bird with the yellow body, orange bill, and black-dot eyes shows up everywhere from shower curtains and wallpaper to nightlights and wallpaper – sometimes decorated to proclaim allegiance to colleges, careers, athletes, and celebrities.

Rubber ducky footprints are, fittingly, all over the web. There’s Duck Planet   where more than four-fifths of 12,000 voters favor the “Ducky” spelling over “Ducky.” DuckiesRule in West Seattle is the site for a garden with themed ducks displayed for different holidays and a water park with a slide for rubber ducks. New York-based blogger Molly posts A Duck A Day photos and comments.

Charlotte Lee, an assistant professor at the University of Washington, started collecting ducks in 1996 and holds the Guinness Book of World Records recognition for the largest collection – 5,631 by 2011. Some women collect shoes, she collects rubber ducks!

A shipment of 29,000 rubber duckies fell off a cargo ship in the Pacific Ocean in 1992, and some of those “Friendly Floaters” have been spotted around the world – floating the current for some 17,000 miles. 

If your rubber ducky travels with you on vacation, send a snapshot to Olympic Hot Tub in care of info@olympichottub.com or upload on our Facebook page. When you take your ducky to your own Hot Spring Spa tonight,  as Ernie says, “You’ll make tubbie time the very best time of the whole day.”

Need a new duck or want to add a unique model to your collection, pop on in to any of our 5 Olympic Hot Tub stores, we’ve got the best collection around.

RES EST SERVA VOLUPTAS. Pleasure is serious business as the Romans said it.

More on everyone’s favorite hot tub toy:

Rubber Duck Squeaks Into National Toy Hall of Fame

Rubber Duck Christmas Tree

9 Reasons the Rubber Duck Deserves to Be In The National Toy Hall of Fame