World's Largest Rubber Duck
The World's Largest Rubber Duck in Los Angeles
Update: The Big #KindnessDuck Party has been rescheduled to Oct. 29 – 31.
The first half of 2021 has been a busy one for Mark Burrows, Mary Ho, and couple Cye and Kyle Wagner — they’re the team behind one of Fort Worth’s newest nonprofits, the Kindness Duck Project.
The idea for the Kindness Duck Project began in January. Burrows began a series of Kindness Conversations with the children’s ministry he directs at First United Methodist Church.
“Kindness really asks something of us, to go out of our way to show care for others, to listen more, to be empathetic, to feel with, to be forgiving, to let people off the hook and not paint everybody by the worst moment of their life,” Burrows says.
In Kindness Conversations, kids learned about the concept in three forms — being kind to yourself, being kind to others, and being kind to the environment. They got yellow rubber ducks with the word “kindness” printed on them to hand out to people and playing cards with specific tasks to perform. Cards included ideas like drawing with chalk on the sidewalk, spending more time with a pet, or pulling weeds.
The Wagners’ two children participated in the project, but Cye and Kyle noticed that not only were the kids getting a lot out of doing good deeds — they and their fellow adults at church were also experiencing the impact of that message. The seed began to form for what has become the Kindness Duck Project — a nonprofit dedicated to planting, growing, and sharing kindness. The Project officially launched in May.
The upcoming Big #KindnessDuck Party, which takes place in Trinity Park from July 23 – 25, will bring The World’s Largest Rubber Duck to Fort Worth. Big Duck LLC will bring the duck to the city on a tractor trailer and set it up in Trinity Park, where it will be inflated to reach six stories in height. There will also be a 10-foot baby duck nearby.
The event is meant to emphasize the “Grow Kindness” part of the group’s mission.
“The Grow Kindness portion is where we want to partner with nonprofits, other organizations who have really great missions, but may not necessarily have as large of a platform as they want or as much publicity as they want,” Kyle Wagner says.
The idea of bringing a six-story duck to Fort Worth grew into a massive event plan. Board member Ho, who owns Tokyo Cafe, used her knowledge of the restaurant world to bring over 20 food trucks to the event. Partnerships with the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History and Fort Worth Independent School District bring children’s events and registration for pre-K and Kindergarten. Vendor Alley will feature close to 100 vendors — Cye Wagner noted that she will be working on her Christmas shopping during the Party.
But the part of the event that the Kindness Duck Project board members are most excited about is Charity Lane, where close to 30 charities will be able to set up booths and let people know what services they offer and how people can get involved. Confirmed participants include Saving Hope Rescue, A Memory Grows, and Con Mi MADRE.
“There are wonderful, very well-established nonprofits here that have a great mission that may not use the word kindness, but kindness is at their core, because what they're doing is just kindness at its most pure form,” Cye Wagner says.
The board members are excited about the draw the giant ducks will bring to the Party, where people can then learn about the mission of the Project and the other charities present.
In the future, the Kindness Duck Project will be involved in random acts of kindness as well as developing a Kindness Curriculum to share with educational facilities, organizations, and communities as a way to promote the topic.
To learn more about the Kindness Duck Project, visit their website, kindnessduck.com.
