Thousands of people line both sides of the Allegheny River as a version of Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman giant “Rubber Duckie” is towed past PNC Park for its debut in Pittsburgh on Friday, Sept. 27, 2013. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)
PITTSBURGH (AP) — The huge rubber duck that has been at Pittsburgh’s waterfront is leaving town Sunday after a stay of about a month.
The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust plans to deflate the 40-foot duck as planned and store it in an undisclosed location.
More than a million people have visited the duck, according to estimates from Point State Park and local hotels, and almost 5,000 area residents signed a petition seeking to keep the duck afloat in Pittsburgh.
“It came in like a lion, let’s let it go like a lamb,” Paul Organisak, vice president of programming for the Cultural Trust, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
The duck is the idea of Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman, and the details of when and where it appears are spelled out in a contract with the artist. Various versions have made a splash in harbors from Hong Kong to Sao Paulo since 2007.
The Cultural Trust didn’t immediately respond to a question of what it cost to create the Pittsburgh version of the duck, which was built in an Ohio factory.
The group said the duck might be brought back to life for an occasional holiday.
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