A Rainy Day in Heth, AR

It was pouring rain this morning so we’re here for another day!

In last night’s blog I mentioned the Peabody ducks but didn’t elaborate that much and since today there’s not much to say, I decided to elaborate as this draws a huge crowd making it very difficult to see the ducks leave their fountain. Since I couldn’t get close enough to get photos of the ducks last night, I located a video that someone took of them. To see it, click on this link.

The decades-old tradition of the ducks in the Peabody fountain started back in the 1930s. Frank Schutt, general manager of The Peabody® Memphis, and his friend, Chip Barwick, returned from a week-end hunting trip to Arkansas. The men had had a little too much Tennessee sippin' whiskey and thought it would be fun to place their live decoy ducks (it was within the law then for hunters to use live decoys) in the beautiful Travertine marble fountain in the lobby of The Peabody. Three small English Call ducks were placed in the fountain and the reaction was nothing short of enthusiasm. Thus began a Peabody tradition that has endured and is now firmly established as an American icon around the globe. After 80 years, the marble fountain in the hotel lobby is still graced by five North American Mallards and their ceremonial March of The Peabody Ducks still takes place daily at 11am and 5pm. At 11 a.m. the ducks waddle from their home atop the Peabody Hotel followed by the Duckmaster into the elevator and on the red carpet through the Grand Lobby and into the Italian Marble Fountain where they swim around for the day until 5:00 p.m. comes and the ceremony is reversed. Each time, there is a ceremony and the tradition is explained to the crowds that line the lobby and the mezzanine. This is tradition in all Peabody Hotels which are located in Memphis, Little Rock and Orlando.

I wasn’t able to get close enough to take photos so I’ve found some on the internet to feature here.

By the way, we’re now in the Central time zone so we’re an hour behind Eastern.

Other than having a long nap and getting the laundry done, that was my day!