The Peabody Duck Walk

If you find yourself in Memphis, you have to attend the Peabody Duck Walk otherwise you are missing out on the full Memphis experience. The Peabody Duck Walk takes place strangely enough at the beautiful Peabody Hotel.

The idea came about when the General Manager of the hotel went hunting with a buddy. After a long day, they came back empty handed and decided to drink their problems away with Tennessee’s own; Jack Daniels. When they returned to the hotel, they were so toasted they took their live decoy ducks and put them into the fountain. Back in the 1930’s apparently it was okay to use live duck as bait (yuck)!

In the morning when the General Manager and his buddy came down, they found that the ducks had remained in the fountain overnight and that a huge crowd of people had gathered around them to admire them. From that day on a new ritual was born.

Now, everyday at 11AM the ducks are brought from the Duck Palace on the top of the Peabody and marched down the red carpet straight into the famous fountain with the help of the Duck Master. There they spend their day swimming and charming guests. Then at 5PM the Duck Master returns and they exit the fountain and head back down the red carpet and into the elevator which leads them back to their Duck Palace.

Be warned, people show up really early to get a good seat to this event. Also, the ducks move very fast, so be prepared if you want a good photo. They seriously book down the carpe! The night we were there they were new and the ducks didn’t want to cooperate, which made the event even better!

So if you enjoy animals or something just lighthearted and fun, this is the event for you. Then afterwards sit down at one of the many tables and grab a drink or two. The atmosphere is quite nice and very beautiful. The drinks aren’t bad either…