QUACK, QUACK: Downtown ‘getting ducks in a row’ for Halloween scavenger hunt

Published 4:55 pm Wednesday, October 26, 2022

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Editor’s Note: Open hours of the Downtown Natchez Pumpkin Patch have changed since the original posting of this story for Halloween weekend. The pumpkin patch at the Natchez Inc. building on the corner of Pearl and Main Street is open from noon to 6 p.m. Friday; from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday; from noon to 3 p.m. on Sunday and from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Halloween Monday.

NATCHEZ — Little rubber ducks in Halloween costumes will be hiding all over Downtown Natchez this weekend, Starting Friday, Oct. 28 through Halloween Monday.

The Rubber Duckie Halloween Scavenger Hunt is hosted by the Downtown Natchez Alliance as another tool to entertain and attract people to the beautiful heart of Downtown Natchez and to the mom-and-pop businesses there, said DNA member and past president, Chesney Doyle.

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“Downtown is getting our ducks in a row,” she said.

The ducks will be strategically placed in merchants’ store windows. Participants find the ducks and note where they found them on a list provided to them at either the Downtown Natchez pumpkin patch or Arts Natchez at 425 Main Street.

“If they locate a certain number of ducks, they take their list by Arts Natchez and receive a duck,” Doyle said.

The scavenger hunt is the brainchild of Robin Person of OutsideIN MS.

“I used to be the director of the rubber duck hunt out at Historic Jefferson College,” Person said. “It was the most popular event out there and hundreds of kids would come out and hunt the ducks.”

It wasn’t feasible to hide hundreds of ducks downtown—they would all go missing before anyone could find them—but Person had the idea to hide approximately 50 ducks safely inside store windows. Those who can find them will be able to choose their own duck, in full costume, to take home, she said.

There are at least 350 to 400 ducks participants of all ages to choose from, Person said.

“They come in all shapes and sizes dressed as racecars, unicorns, doctors and more,” she said.

The scavenger hunt list can be picked up during Arts Natchez’s normal business hours from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. daily or at the pumpkin patch at the Natchez Inc. building on the corner of Pearl and Main Street. The pumpkin patch is open from noon to 6 p.m. Friday; from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday; from noon to 3 p.m. on Sunday and from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Halloween Monday.