National Cucumber Day brings ‘flying cucumber’ blimp to LI

It’s a bird. It’s a plane. No, it’s a cucumber.

The 130-foot-long “flying cucumber” blimp, sponsored by Hendrick’s Gin, will be soaring over Long Island and New York City through Friday in honor of National Cucumber Day on June 14, according to a Hendrick’s spokeswoman.

The dark green blimp began its 44-day promotional tour in San Diego in May, making stops around the country before landing at Republic Airport in Farmingdale last Saturday.

It will make its final stop in Nashville in July, the blimp’s pilot Adrian Croeser said.

The blimp, which first took flight last year on a similar cross-country journey, is marked with the company’s logo and has two large eyes on the port and starboard sides. It resembles a cucumber to highlight the taste of the gin, which is flavored with cucumber and rose, the spokeswoman said.

The flying cucumber is one of only seven blimps operating in the United States, according to Toby Page, a marketing director at Van Wagner Airship Group. Van Wagner and Goodyear handle the other six aircrafts, including two MetLife blimps and three Goodyear blimps.

The flying cucumber is expected to leave Republic Airport for Philadelphia either Friday or Saturday depending on the weather, Croeser said.

On social media, users from around the country have kept tabs on the blimp’s location using the hashtag #FlyingCucumber.