The Big Duck in Flanders lit like a Christmas tree for holiday season

Cassandra Nielsen takes pride in her collection of 34 rubber duckies, but none of them, not even the one with the Care Bear theme, are quite as magnificent as The Big Duck she saw lit up in Flanders for the very first time Wednesday evening.

"I love it," Cassandra, 5, of Port Jefferson, said of the 91-year-old Long Island icon. Her parents said she and her sister, Kimberly, 7, were finally old enough for the nearly hourlong excursion to what will likely become a holiday tradition.

"This is past their bedtime," said Heather Nielsen, the sisters' mother. "This is not a jaunt, this is a haul ... but worth it. I got a video of her when she first saw it, and she got so excited about the biggest duck ever."

The Nielsen family stood among the crowd of at least 150 gathered for Suffolk County Parks Department’s annual lighting of The Big Duck, the 20-foot-tall, 30-foot-long, 18-foot-wide eggshell-colored fixture that overlooks Flanders Road all year long, and now wears a green wreath-like scarf aglow with multicolored holiday lights. The annual affair coincided with the lighting of the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree in Manhattan, but for many Long Islanders, The Big Duck is the better choice, citing traffic and tradition.

"This is probably my 12th or 13th time here," said Ardan O’Conor, arms wrapped around his fiance, Bonnie Clark, enjoying her first time at The Big Duck lighting spectacle. "This is home."

Added Clark: "This is a little more intimate."

The crowd watched students with Mattituck-based Gaelic Grooves Dance and Music Academy and listened to seventh and eighth graders with the Riverhead Middle School Show Choir perform "Big Duck Carols," as director Nadine Greenberg described the traditional holiday songs, reimagined Wednesday evening with Big Duck-related lyrics, including "Jingle Bell Duck" and "Deck The Halls for The Big Duck."

"They have a great time with it, they think they’re fun," Greenberg said of the quacky carols. She added that this annual performance is "very special because The Big Duck is special. It’s very unique to our community. The students really feel a part of that and they get very excited especially since this kicks off our concert season."

But after Wednesday evening and before they perform for local senior centers, the students need to practice the traditional tunes.

"Inevitably we’ll be singing one of the regular Christmas carols and then someone sings ‘duck' by accident," Greenberg said. "We always get a good laugh out of that."

The songs were cut short by the honking Flanders Fire Department fire truck carrying the velvet-dressed guest of honor who flipped the switch to officially light the duck: Santa Claus.

"I like to think of all the lights on The Big Duck and throughout the town as symbolizing the warmth and good will that we feel toward one another," Southampton Town Supervisor Maria Moore said addressing the crowd. "I know that during this hectic season of holiday shopping there’s just so much to do and we can feel overwhelmed, but I’d like us all to just try to be patient with one another and show each other some compassion."