Jeeps and ducks: What's the connection? What's it mean?
DAYTONA BEACH — Tens of thousands of Jeeps are on the road this week in Daytona Beach, as the annual Jeep Beach celebration rolls toward its closing weekend.
That’s a lot of Jeeps, but it undoubtedly pales against the population figure of the brand’s most identifiable fashion accessory.
Ducks.
Yes, if you’re looking at a Jeep this week, you’re almost certainly also looking at a plastic or rubber duck, more than likely a flock of them. They come in all colors and sizes, whether it’s a menagerie lined up by the dozen on a dashboard or a lone oversized quacker riding shotgun parade-float style on a roof.
For those not immersed in the Jeep culture, the main question is ‘Why?’
Here’s what you need to know:
How did the Jeep duck thing start?
By all accounts, based on an assortment of posts and stories on Jeep-related websites, the duck phenomenon, known as “Jeep Ducking,” began in Ontario, Canada, in the pandemic year of 2020.
In case you missed it: Jeep Beach party returns to Daytona's Hard Rock Hotel
There, a Jeep owner decided to do something to brighten both her and a stranger’s day. She went and bought a rubber ducky, put the duck on a nearby Jeep. And, yes, it caught on.
What does it mean?
It’s simply a gesture of friendship.
At last year’s Jeep Beach, for instance, Jeep owner Jamie Pilgrim arrived from South Carolina equipped with some 200 small rubber ducks that his 6-year-old daughter was busy distributing during the family’s Daytona Beach visit.
He said the ducks are a happy symbol of the big-hearted nature of the Jeep community.
“If you broke down on this beach, most of the people out here would jump right in to help you,” he told The News-Journal. “If you were out in the woods and posted that you were stuck, someone would go out of their way to help you. What other car culture does that?”
How big a deal is Jeep Ducking among Jeep owners?
On social media, the hashtag #duckduckjeep has been used on more than 230,000 posts on Instagram.
There also are more than two dozen Jeep Ducking-related Facebook pages, including a private group with 107,000 members, an “official” page with 72,000 members and a Florida-based private group with 3,800 members.
What are they saying at this year's Jeep Beach?
At this year’s event, the ducks again are out in force. On the beach this week, behind Hard Rock Hotel, Jeep owner Blake Jacobs, of Charlotte, North Carolina, had affixed an oversized duck decked out in stars and stripes to the roof of his 2022 Gladiator Rubicon.
It was a tribute to law enforcement and firefighters, he said.
“I saw that duck online and I said, ‘I have to have it,’” said Jacobs, 32, a long-haul trucker. “I was a fire-fighter for 10 years and I know a bunch of cops. I want to show my support.”
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: At Jeep Beach, ducks are a popular accessory: Why?
