Why There’s an Inflatable Tube Man on This Rochester Water Tower

A few days ago on the Rochester, MN Reddit page ,someone pointed out that a goofy inflatable tube man has been placed on top of the water tower by the Apache Mall.

Who put the flailing tube man up there?
byu/gagyourgobb inrochestermn

That's a great question: Who put the flailing tube man up there? And also, why?

No, it's not a practical joke, and no, it's not just to make us smile. There's actually a really good reason for that guy to be up there.

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Who Put the Inflatable Tube Man on the Rochester, MN Water Tower

First, the who. Like I said, it wasn't some funny kids, Rochester Public Utilities actually put it up there.

There's the one by the Apache Mall that got attention a few days ago, but there are others that sometimes pop up around town on other water towers, too.

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Why Are There Inflatable Tube Men on Rochester, MN Water Towers

But why are these tube men up there? They're super funny to watch as you drive by on 52 and see him flapping in the wind. But it's not for a laugh.

RPU puts the inflatable tube man up on water towers across Rochester because of turkey vultures.

A TV station out of Alabama, WTVY, did a story about this tactic years ago. RPU told them that someone who worked at the water department came up with the idea to use inflatable tube men to keep the turkey vultures away.

They write that the employee "experimented with different things and found that motion worked best when trying to scare away turkey vultures. After doing some research, he suggested RPU try using a wind dancer."

That happened back in 2015, and now, 10 years later, RPU still uses inflatable tube men to keep the turkey vultures from roosting on the water towers and wreaking havoc.