It鈥檚 used for everything from crude repairs to making costumes. And in Avon, duct tape is celebrated each year with adhesive-centric parades, sculptures and games. The city is home to the makers of Duck-brand duct tape. returns this week after a three-year break due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Ten years ago, 91制片厂鈥檚 Kabir Bhatia visited with the Urig family as they made a parade for the 9th Avon Heritage Duct Tape Festival. Although the family has moved away and no longer participates, Keith Urig said the boys 鈥� now in high school 鈥� fondly remember the annual event.
Editor's note: This story originally published July 15, 2012.
For 7-year-old Kole Urig and his family, the sound of duct tape tearing is also the sound of the jungle.
鈥淚t鈥檚 kind of like we鈥檙e building duct tape animals for the duct tape parade, and right now we鈥檙e doing the gazelle,鈥� he said. 鈥淸The] peacock is done, and the lion is done. We鈥檙e done with the flamingo but I think the beak fell off.鈥�
Past prize-winners
The Urig family is inching toward tomorrow鈥檚 duct tape parade [in 2012], their fourth time participating and hopefully their fourth best in show. Past floats have woven the family excavating business with Avon鈥檚 chosen theme -- be it the Woodstock Generation or this year鈥檚 safari motif.
Kole鈥檚 mother, Rebecca, scrounged materials for months to give some backbone to the life-size animals now in their living room.
鈥淲e did do a lot of recycling this year. I collected a whole bunch of newspapers and milk jugs,鈥� she said, motioning to the head of the lion made from a beach ball.
They also used 鈥渘ewspaper for the horns, mostly some pipes that my dad got from his shop to make the legs, but inside there is also bubble wrap,鈥� said Kole.
Labor of love
Each family who signs up to make a float gets 60 rolls of duct tape from the organizers. Rebecca estimates that they bought about four times that much for what will eventually end up as lawn ornaments for Kole and his mischievous little brother, Karter. The boys are lifelong Avonites like their father, Keith, who says he participates because of civic pride and also because of Kole鈥檚 love of animals.
鈥淭his actually is really scaled down,鈥� said Rebecca. 鈥淓very time we start thinking about it, in like February, and we make this humongous grand blueprint, and then we start building it鈥� it gets scaled down massively.鈥�
Huge float
The float is longer than a limo, and it dwarfs the Urig鈥檚 garage. The wood frame will be covered in plastic grass before the animals are positioned. There鈥檚 the bright pink flamingo, a red-eyed tree frog, a parrot and lots more, all covered in more shades of duct tape than most people probably knew existed.
鈥淚t took a little on the fabricating part to make it turn,鈥� Keith said. 鈥淸We had] to lean on some friends to help us pull through to get the right pieces and parts.鈥�
鈥淲e never really keep track of how many hours [this takes],鈥� Rebecca said. 鈥淎nd I think it鈥檚 because we don鈥檛 really want to know.鈥�
Origins of duck
The 鈥淒uck鈥� Company started in Cleveland in 1950, and, through a series of owners and corporate buyers, came to Avon in the early 1990s. When the city wanted to re-establish its own town festival, Duck stepped in and became both lead sponsor and organizer.
Along with the parade, gives Avon natives like the Urigs a chance to show off their town with arts and crafts featuring duct tape鈥� plus music and food which presumably do not involve duct tape.
