Rolling into Turlington Plaza at noon on her pink LaScoota kick scooter, Kendall Johnson looked like any other student on their way to class April 16. It was only when she started unpacking hundreds of ducks onto one of the concrete tables that passersby realized who she was: the Duck Lady.
“Free tiny ducks!” Johnson called out, inviting students to pick out a grape-sized resin quirky quacker.
Although the small ducks were free to take, the 22-year-old sociology senior accepted donations to buy food for the campus cats she’s visited almost every day for the past three years. She knows all of the fluffy felines living between Pugh Hall and Dauer Hall by name, and she’s able to pet cats that most students have only ever caught a glimpse of.
April 16 marked the Duck Lady’s last day. But she kept her usual routine.
When Johnson arrived, she unfolded and slipped into a yellow duck onesie. It matched the orange Lululemon sneakers she wore to resemble duck feet. Next were a few dozen basketball-themed rubber duckies to celebrate the Gators men’s basketball championship win. Passing students could also pose and take pictures with two larger stuffed ducks, named Waddles Clayton Jr. and Thomas (after Thomas Haugh, the UF men’s basketball sophomore forward).
However, the crown jewel was a bag filled with hundreds of grape-sized resin ducks of all colors, designs and accessories: nurse ducks with stethoscopes, ducks textured to resemble footballs, ducklings sitting in cracked-open egg shells, graduation ducks with caps and diplomas.
Students gushed over the campus cat pictures on Johnson’s “Free Ducks” sign. Dollar by dollar, the donation jar filled up throughout the afternoon. Johnson’s phone buzzed with notifications from Zelle, Venmo and Cashapp. At the end of the day, she had raised $333.
Johnson will be graduating in August, but she estimated that across all of her events, she’s raised over $1,000 to feed the campus cats.
Ducks are Johnson’s second favorite animal after cats. Her family’s backyard has seen generations of waddling waterfowl grow up, and she has a shelf full of rubber ones she’s collected over the years.
The idea to hand out ducks on campus “just popped in my head” one day, Johnson said. Her proposal received a lot of interest and upvotes on YikYak, and she held her first giveaway in Spring 2023. Since then, she’s doled out ducks two or three times a semester, relying on YikYak to get the word out in advance.
Dozens of students came to each handout, lining up to choose a tiny trinket. Johnson’s fans began calling her Duck Lady, and she took on the title with pride. She’s never run out of ducks.
“The small ones, I always make sure I have an abundance of,” she said, estimating the total count to be between 700 and 1,000. Johnson foots a bill of $50 to $100 per handout to supply the ducks, depending on what the market is for more exclusive designs.
Taylor Yi, a 19-year-old UF microbiology freshman, learned about the duck handouts from a friend in the Fall. This time, she happened to walk through Turlington just as Johnson finished setting up her display and was one of the first to pick out a duck.
“Usually, one will just catch my eye,” Yi said, holding a white duck dappled with pink daisies. It’s the third duck she’s received overall, and she was proud to support the campus cat cause with a donation.
While Yi’s ducks all came from the Duck Lady, other visitors were adding the bird baubles onto their existing collections.
“My partner is really into ducks, is obsessed with ducks,” said Sara Carroll, an 18-year-old UF nursing freshman. She was on her way to class but stopped in her tracks when she saw the ducks.
Carroll was wearing a Gators shirt, which unlocked that day’s special promotion: getting to choose two ducks. Her prizes will join three rubber ducks at her and her partner’s home. They also recently adopted a cat, so Carroll was glad to see the ducks and cats crossover.
“It’s a great way to get people who are passionate about animals over here,” she said.
For Elle Hosto, a 22-year-old UF business administration senior, the timing of the duck handout couldn’t have been better. Earlier that day, she made off from a UF Outdoor Adventure Recreation club event with a stash of rubber ducks in her backpack.
Laughing in disbelief, Hosto asked Johnson if she’d be interested in a trade. Hosto swapped one of her standard-issue rubber duck bath toys for a basketball-patterned duck from Johnson.
“I’m so excited for my little basketball duck,” she said, deciding to name it Waddles Clayton Jr. Jr. as a tribute to the Duck Lady’s own. “I think this one’s going to get pinned to my cork board.”
Johnson wrapped up her last quack as the Duck Lady with a full heart. She said she felt sad but was happy so many people came by, almost to the point of tears. Her fans were equally bittersweet to say goodbye.
“I’m very glad that I caught her, even though it was her last one,” said Talia Cho, a 19-year-old UF exploratory freshman. Her two tiny ducks occupy a special place atop her jewelry box, and she said she’d keep them even after she moves out of her dorm.
“I’m very curious as to who’s going to take over for [Johnson],” Cho said. “We’ll see if there’s a Duck Lady 2.0 coming.”
Contact Pristine Thai at pthai@alligator.org. Follow her on X @pristinethai.
Pristine Thai is a university general assignment reporter and a third-year political science and journalism major. Her free time is spent attending classical music concerts or petting cats.
