Story of love and sacrifice connected to viral Ducknana statue

Esquimalt, B.C. -

Luke Martin was leisurely looking online when he noticed the hurried headline.

“So much panic buying going on,” he recalls the Reddit post saying. “Only two Ducknanas left.”

Luke sent the post featuring a picture of the surreal statues, which had duck heads attached to banana bodies, to his wife. 

“It’s just so absurd,” Montana Martin laughs. “You can’t help but love it.”

So Montana responded to her husband’s message with “I want one.” And without even asking if she was going bananas or not, Luke rushed off to buy it as a surprise for her birthday.

“I came across the largest duck banana statue I’ve ever seen in my life,” Luke says.

It was more than a metre tall, which made self-checkout a challenge, but transportation not una-peel-ing.

“The company was lacking,” Luke says of the trip home with the Ducknana buckled into the passenger seat of his small pickup truck.

“But the looks I got from people as I went down the road was incredible."

To appreciate why the Ducknana was riding shotgun, we need to go back to when Luke was disposing of bombs.

“I decided to do the hardest, most meaningful thing that I could,” Luke says. “And for me that was joining the Canadian Army.”

After spending a decade travelling the world as a bomb disposal technician, including a seven-month deployment in Ukraine, Luke has retired and says his focus is now Montana.

“I’m going to seize every opportunity I can to make her happy,” he says.

After being away for most of his wife’s birthdays, Luke hoped this gift would make her smile.

But a few hours later Montana noticed a bunch of other Ducknana posts online.

“Immediately I said, ‘What is this?’” Montana says. “And he was like, ‘Dang it!’”

Luke never imagined that pictures of his Ducknana purchase would go viral on Reddit – inspiring countless comments, store sell-outs, and a Ducknana meet and greet at a local park – let alone be seen by Montana.

“He’s like, ‘Do you want your birthday present early?’” Montana says, before laughing. “What kind of question is that? Obviously yes!”

After Luke presented his wife with the Ducknana, he pulled out his camera, and captured a couple seconds of her laughter, which lasted a few minutes.

“I couldn’t have loved him more in that moment,” Montana smiles. “Nailed it. Perfect birthday present.”

While the couple are still deciding where to place the Ducknana in their garden, they did name him Bill, and are planning to include him in future celebrations.

“I do plan to decorate him with bunny ears for Easter and a Santa hat with a wreath around his neck for Christmas,” Montana laughs. “(It) makes him that much more amazing and funny.”

So keep your eyes "peeled" on for what Bill the Ducknana does next.