Uh, Why Is the World’s Largest Rubber Duck Coming to Fort Worth?

This week, one thing is bigger in Texas, with one enigmatic visitor: a giant, yellow rubber duck.

June 24, 2021

If you want to take a selfie with a giant rubber duck (because why not?) this friendly fella will be in Fort Worth this week. Chung Sung-Yun/Getty

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This next month, one thing really is bigger in Texas, with the arrival of one enigmatic visitor: a giant, yellow rubber duck. Cowtown is hosting the world's largest rubber duck this July, and it's large enough that you could only bathe with it in, dunno, the Pacific Ocean.

The Big #KindnessDuck Party, a free event happening this on July 23 through July 25 in Trinity Park, brings a rubber duck that stands — or floats — about six stories tall and measures about 75 feet long. A smaller, 10-foot-tall baby rubber duck is also expected.

The party is a branch of Kindness Duck Project, a Fort Worth-based nonprofit that aims to promote kindness “by responding to community needs and performing as many random acts of kindness as possible,” according to the organization’s website. The three pillars of its mission are planting kindness, growing kindness and sharing kindness. Aw.

Kyle Wagner, Kindness Duck Project executive director, told Fort Worth Magazine, "We are doing all of this for the sake of kindness — to show kindness to the amazing people and businesses in our communities; to show kindness to friend, family, and strangers alike; to show kindness to Cowtown and everything that's great in it. In order to generate a large amount of kindness, you have to help grow it; to grow it, you first need to plant it."

If you're looking to take a selfie with a large plastic animal and learn a bit about kindness — like your parents, pastor and Mr. Rogers have all urged you to do — you can find the event this week located between Fort Worth's 7th Street and Lancaster Avenue bridges. The party will include local food trucks and family-friendly activities. Confirmed vendors include Kona Ice, Sweet Frog Premium Frozen Yogurt, Chimy’s Cerveceria and Big Kat Burgers.

The nonprofit created a GoFundMe page to help raise $10,000 needed to bring the duck to Fort Worth. As of Tuesday, eight donors have raised $1,805.

The party is free to the public, and more information can be found on the organization’s Facebook page.

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