West Seattle Man Sells Ducky Paraphernalia

A West Seattle man has started a new business founded on his love of rubber duckies. Ron Sterling has been decorating his lawn with bath-time toys for four years now, dressing his lucky birds in holiday and seasonal attire.

This October, the duckies are all decked out in their spooky gear. There are witch ducks, vampire ducks, and devil ducks covering Sterling’s lawn, located at the south end of Beach Drive in West Seattle. One duck is dressed like that scary puppet from the “Saw” movies.

Sterling’s lawn was such a big hit in the neighborhood that he started a Web site selling ducky paraphernalia. Duckiesrule.com sells calendars, cards, clothes, and more. Everything is decorated with images of the duckies that cover his yard.  Right now, the site has Halloween and Thanksgiving themed ducky items for sale.

Why duckies? On his website Sterling, writes “I think rubber duckies are symbolic of freshness, a sense of humor ("water off a duck's back"), endurance, and love of water.” Sterling has even taken to calling his duck collection his “ducky kingdom.” The “rulers” of his lawn are King Lucky and Queen Lulu Duck, which he usually dresses in royal regalia. There are about a hundred more ducky “subjects”). It’s also the perfect decoration for the Pacific Northwest because it’s rubber, and thus waterproof.