Lucy the Elephant celebrated her 137th birthday Sunday, July 22, 2018.
MARGATE The mammoth-sized celebration was delayed a day because of a coastal storm, but Sunday's weather held off long enough to allow Lucy the Elephant to celebrate her 137th birthday in grand style. The whole world was invited, and thousands showed up to enjoy bouncy rides, table games, tasty treats and of course, birthday cake.
It was the second time Ashley Demmy visited Lucy in her lifetime, but this time she brought her husband Jason and her children Trinity, 7, and Gavin, 4.
They are enjoying Lucy's birthday party, Ashley Demmy said as they waited in line to climb the stairway in Lucy's leg. They got excited when they saw the beach and now they want to go, but we will tour Lucy first.
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Save Lucy Committee Executive Director Richard Helfant said turnout was greater than expected.
We were afraid having it on a Sunday we would lose some people, but the turnout is excellent, he said. Lucy's happy, so we're happy.
The party has a different theme each year, and in 2018 the largest elephant in the world was celebrating the Camden-Atlantic City Railroad that brought tourists and homebuyers to the Jersey shore.
The hype surrounding Lucy being built as a marketing attraction for real estate purchasers played a significant role in the development of Atlantic City and the railroad extending the tracks to South Atlantic City, which later became Margate, Helfant said.
The front section of the gift shop building was the South Atlantic City railroad depot, he said.
Lucy the Elephant, which is a National Historic Landmark, has weathered many storms and was last painted in the fall of 2015. Last year she had 17 new windows installed at a cost of $42,000.
On the next go around, we will have to strip her down to the bare metal because there are so many layers of paint it's starting to bubble in spots, Helfant said.
That is likely to cost about $150,000, so the fund raising for that project will soon begin, he said.
Aside from two small grants, all of our $500,000 yearly operating budget comes from visitors, tours and donations, he said. Some have even put Lucy in their wills. One resident who passed away willed the Save Lucy Committee $15,000. That goes a long way toward maintenance.
Lucy attracts 137,000 visitors each year, he said.
Helfant gave a special shout-out to the Margate City Police Department and the Public Works Department for all their work ensuring the event went off without a hitch.
For more information about Lucy, see LucytheElephant.com.
