Up on the rooftop of the Peabody Hotel, high above you, lives one of the most charmingly absurd traditions in American hospitality. The Peabody Duck March began sometime in the 1930s when the hotel's general manager, Frank Schutt, returned from a hunting trip in Tennessee and — in a moment of whiskey-fueled mischief — thought it would be funny to put live English Call ducks in the marble fountain of the Grand Lobby. The guests were delighted.
The tradition stuck. Today, five mallard ducks live in a royal suite on the hotel's rooftop — an actual custom-crafted duck palace, climate-controlled and carpeted. Each morning at eleven o'clock, a Duckmaster escorts the ducks from their penthouse via a dedicated elevator, down a red carpet, and into the lobby fountain, where they spend the day splashing and swimming.
At five o'clock, they reverse the procession. Hundreds of guests gather daily to watch. The ducks have their own social media accounts, their own merchandising line, and their own retirement farm where they go after their five years of service.
Memphis has never seen a reason to explain this.