Duck farm museum opening in Flanders Saturday
A 1962 program for what was then the fifth annual Big Duck Beauty Pageant is also on display at the museum, helping to depict the popularity of the farming tradition and Big Duck statue.
“It was quite the event,” Ms. Dabrowski said. “Women from as far as Franklin Square competed in the pageant, hoping to be named the Big Duck Queen. Winners received a tiara, a trophy and $100, which was quite a lot of money back then.”
Almost all of the museum’s pieces were donated by Long Island growers, she said, and curators hope to add to the collection over time.
Another piece of history will eventually join the exhibit: an original duck farm train engine and feed car — about 24-feet-long when combined — which is being restored at the Railroad Museum of Long Island on Griffing Avenue in Riverhead. The engine and cart, which was given to Friends of the Big Duck by an anonymous Suffolk County donor, will be on display once repairs are completed, Ms. Dabrowski said.
Paul Massey, who will be closing his Eastport farm in a few months, said “I’m glad to see Southampton Town is giving the industry a little due credit. It will be nice to have a place to keep some pieces of [our] heritage, to ensure it is kept and not lost.”
Both Mr. Massey and Douglas Corwin of Crescent Duck Farm have donated items to the museum, and both plan to attend the grand-opening celebration.
“I’m just very happy to see that a group of local people feels strongly enough about something that has been my life and family’s lives, that they wanted to do this,” Mr. Corwin said. “As a duck farmer, I feel honored and humbled.”
The museum’s grand-opening dedication and ribbon cutting ceremony, which is open to the public, takes place Saturday, Oct. 18, at 11 a.m.
