Summer Escapes: Stick Around

Make Way for Ducklings

As the delightful children’s book on which they’re based turns 75 this year, we look back at how the duck statues became one of our most popular tourist attractions.

1941   Make Way for Ducklings, written by Robert McCloskey, is first published.
1942   The book wins the Caldecott Medal.
1978   The city of Boston begins hosting a Duckling Day Parade.
1987   The Nancy Shön–designed statues are installed on the Common.
1987   Quack is stolen; Mack is stolen a year later.
1992   Quack is taken again from the Common—resulting in the “Bring Quack Back” campaign. (He is never found.) Jack is stolen in 1999 and eventually found in the Boston College library.
2006   Make Way for Ducklings is named the official children’s book of Massachusetts.
2011   The Mallard family celebrates its 75th anniversary.

 

The Freedom Trail Pub Crawl

If colonial landmarks are our local lifeblood, the Freedom Trail is the pulmonary artery. But the walk is far more civilized when combined with stops at some of Boston’s finest bars.

 

— Matthew Reed Baker

 

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