We designed and built a large sign for a water park almost two decades ago. The sign base was a giant, twenty-foot-tall wave with a rubber duck surfing on top. A huge sign was suspended on the front of the wave. We did as much as possible in our studio, which went smoothly. Then came the onsite assembly, which was a relatively new experience for us at the time. The sign had a prefabricated steel tripod structure, which was lifted off the semi-trailer and tipped into position easily. The sign face installation also went smoothly. The colourful tube and body of the duck were much trickier to install as a crew member had to climb inside to position the piece and tighten up the giant bolts.
Then came the hardest part - putting on the duck’s head. It was a matter of guiding the head’s structure to slip inside the top of the body. I remember gingerly climbing up the very tall ladder, rigging a safety rope around the duck and then wedging myself between the feet and body and doing my best to direct the crane operator and physically coax the head into position. Then came the most terrifying part of the job… unhooking the crane and twisting out the eye bolt. I remember shaking badly as it was below freezing with a stiff breeze, but I was also the most scared I had ever been on a job. Thankfully, I survived without mishap and was delighted to finish and climb down. With winter and freezing temperatures on us, we had to wait until spring to finish sculpting the base wave. It turned out fabulous!
The giant duck sign is still in place to this day. That project taught us many things, and these days we would do things very differently with better equipment and more safety protocols.
