SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Have you noticed the big red rabbit at the Sacramento International Airport and wondered why it's there?
It turns out travelers started a tradition that has the rabbit making money for the airport — all by accident.
Collecting coins has become a weekly thing for the airport’s accounting department because of the rabbit and the oversized suitcase at Terminal B’s baggage claim.
“There it goes,” says a mother to her son after he tosses a coin into the oversized suitcase. Her four-year-old son asks, “Where did it go?”
Right on cue, the mother replies, “It’s in there. Down the rabbit hole.”
The rabbit has a name: Leap. Leap signifies motion. You’ll notice he’s jumping into the suitcase. Leap is 56-feet-tall and weighs 10,000 pounds.
He’s become quite the attraction and a bit of a money maker to support the arts.
“I see kids throwing coins in there. I see adults throw coins in. I see kids watching the coin go all the way around,” said Terry Holland, an airport volunteer.
ABC10 caught siblings making a game out of it, which in turn caught the attention of a fellow travelers stuck at the airport.
The suitcase isn’t really a coin collector, but it fools many travelers.
The accounting department collects about $100 in coins every month since they started collecting the coins back in 2012. Leap has provided more than $12,000 to the airport.
“The coins that are put into the suitcase actually get reused by the airport. We have an arts endowment fund that we collect the coins for, and then we take those coins back and use it to keep all of the art here clean, fresh and up to up to date,” explained Scott Johnston, the public information officer at Sacramento International Airport.
You’ll find unique art installations throughout the airport. The money goes to art installations like the flying carpet giving travelers an aerial view over the Sacramento River and the luggage pillars in Terminal A.
But it’s Leap dazzling travelers of all ages.
“It’s a jumping bunny in the hat or a hole or a box? It's a magic trick,” Landon Bratz exclaimed.
If you didn’t notice Leap before, look up the next time you fly.
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