Mama Duck roosts on the Jackson Street Pier in July 2022. Google Earth
The floral clock reads 3:08 p.m. Google Earth
Monster peeks up from his home in Washington Park in July 2022. Google Earth
Imagine visiting Sandusky for the first time and looking for a place to eat or enjoy a view of Cedar Point from across Sandusky Bay.
You “Google” directions to the waterfront and there she is, Mama Duck, the world’s largest rubber duck sitting on the Jackson Street Pier.
At about 3:08 p.m. on either Friday, Saturday or Sunday, July 1-3, a Google flyover happened to capture Sandusky at one of its most picturesque moments. Two tall ships, the Pelee Islander in dock and Mama Duck fully inflated for the entire world to see.
“The duck being in the Google Earth image is a fun coincidence or maybe Google just loves the duck, too,” said duck co-owner Ryan Whaley. “While the duck travels all over the world, Mama Duck has been to Sandusky, Ohio and Duluth, Minnesota more than any other locations. With Jackson Street Pier’s gorgeous revamp, it’s her favorite place to nest.”
How do we know it was approximately 3:08 p.m.? You only have to scroll about a quarter mile away to see the time on the giant floral clock in downtown Sandusky’s Washington Park. The year “2022” and month “July” are visible from the aerial, but the date is difficult to decipher.
And Mama Duck’s eyes aren’t the only thing looking at Googlers. Scroll a block east from the floral clock and you will find two eyes peeking up from a floral mound near the gazebo in Washington Park. Those eyes belonged to the creature the staff at the City of Sandusky Greenhouse affectionately called “Monster.”
“We had wanted to do that mound for a while,” said greenhouse staffer Amy Wyatt. “It was something fun and different.”
Monster definitely was different, what with its hair styled with Dracena and a face formed with about 49 flats of Alternanthera. That’s around 3,500 yellow, white, pink and red flowers adorning Monster's mug.
Wyatt said that type of flower, commonly known as Joseph’s coat, was chosen in part because it is easy to trim–Monster was low maintenance, only needing a trim about once a month–and the colors selected because they were the best ones to contrast each other.
Wyatt said they hope to reunite with Monster, as the staff would like to re-create that mound in the future.
“Any kind of exposure, something fun like that, gets people excited to go places,” Wyatt said. “It all adds to people’s positive image of Sandusky.”