What is yellow, large — standing 61 feet tall and 64 feet wide — and will be taking over Green Tree ahead of the 2026 NFL Draft?
The world’s largest rubber duck.
From April 17 to 22, the largest inflatable rubber duck in the world, a popular tourist attraction, will be on display at 10 Foster Plaza, along with a two-day Rubber Duck Tailgate Party and other events.
The duck, owned and operated by Big Duck LLC, is a touring attraction that has appeared at festivals, fairs and special events across the United States and Canada.
The duck will stand more than six stories tall, is powered by four high-intensity blower motors and is secured by eight 1,800-pound concrete blocks. Standing beside it will be a 10-foot baby rubber duck.
The last time the ducks were on display in the Greater Pittsburgh area was in June, when they appeared at Idlewild & SoakZone in Ligonier Township.
Funding for this year’s event at no cost to the public is being provided by local entrepreneur Jason Wolfe, the founder of Wolfe LLC, a commerce services company.
In 2013, a similar giant rubber duck was on display in the river at Point State Park during the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust’s Festival of Firsts. The duck drew more than 1 million visitors, including Wolfe, according to a news release.
“I moved to Pittsburgh in 1994 with nothing,” Wolfe said in the release. “So I went to the Carnegie Library and taught myself how to code. That turned into a company. That company turned into a few companies. One of them sold for over $120 million. Pittsburgh gave me a second chance, and this is my way of saying thank you.”
The 2013 duck, 40 feet tall, was created by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman. After the festival, a Change.org petition circulated calling for the mayor at the time, Bill Peduto, to bring duck back.
The Big Duck LLC version being unveiled Friday in Foster Plaza is 50% larger than the Hofman duck of 2013. Engineered specifically for a land display, it will be visible from Interstate 376, which carries an estimated 85,000 vehicles per day.
Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., the Rubber Duck Tailgate Party will feature food trucks, a prize wheel, giveaways of branded rubber ducks, footballs, towels, T-shirts and stickers, as well as PerfectGift card sales and giveaways, a shimmer wall photo backdrop and social media activations, the news release said.
On April 20-21, the attraction will be closed to the public for private, invitation-only events.
On April 22, the duck will reopen to the public before being taken down ahead of the draft kickoff on Thursday.