The world's largest rubber duck made its way to Los Angeles yesterday.
The 61-foot-tall (6-story) bath toy was designed by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman. The duck is a world traveler and has already visited Taiwan, China, Belgium, Japan, New Zealand, Brazil, Pittsburgh and two spots in Australia, according to Time Magazine.
The duck arrived at the Port of Los Angeles, just in time for the Tall Ships Festival L.A. The giant bath toy arrived yesterday, Aug. 20, and will stay until Sunday Aug. 24.
Los Angeles is welcoming the duck with open arms. Many of the festivalgoers have been showing up dressed in yellow and red - the duck's signature colors - reports Daily Mail.
A poster board hangs at the festival, telling Hofman's story behind the duck.
He was inspired by the shipping crate that fell off a boat, dumping 29,000 bath toys into the sea in 1992. The story goes that for the next 20 years, the toys washed up on the shores of several different countries. The lost toys helped people learn about ocean currents and plastic pollution, the Daily Breeze reports.
And just as those toys from the boat touched the hearts of children all around the world, so did the world's largest rubber duck.
Hofman's rubber duck was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame in 2013, according to Time Magazine.
Hoffman doesn't plan on stopping there. He envisions his duck making the world a better place.
"The rubber duck knows no frontiers, it doesn't discriminate people and doesn't have a political connotation," he said in a statement on the festival's website. "The friendly, floating rubber duck has healing properties: it can relieve the world's tensions as well as define them."
