Lucy the Elephant is getting ready for her 140th birthday celebration. Saturday, July 17 from 10a. to 8p.
According to Lucy Executive Director, Rich Helfant: “we’re bringing back the trackless train ride this year, along with new and exciting rides, games and inflatables.”
Also part of the festivities:
- 9-hole miniature golf course.
- Mackie the stilt-walker.
- Hot dogs, funnel cakes, french fries, slushies.
- Tours inside Lucy every 45 minutes.
- Lucy’s birthday cake at 3p.
Learn more: http://lucytheelephant.org/
9200 Atlantic Ave, Margate City, NJ.
(609) 823-6473
Lucy the Elephant is a national historic landmark. It’s the largest elephant you can walk through and come out alive! Lucy was built in 1881 and is America’s Oldest Roadside Attraction, overlooking the beach in Margate.
Lucy the Elephant in Margate. The world’s largest elephant – 90 tons and 65 feet tall.
Lucy the Elephant was built by real estate developer, James Lafferty, in 1881, as a gimmick to attract potential buyers to his land holdings along the coast of South Atlantic City (now Margate).
In 1970, a developer purchased Lucy’s land and intended to build a condominium building on the site. The beach and the ocean could stay – but the elephant had to go. To the rescue came the Save Lucy Committee. Within weeks, this small concerned group of ordinary citizens had raised enough money to move the entire decaying structure two blocks away to a new site owned by the city. Thirty years and over 1.5 million dollars later, Lucy was completely restored to her original splendor, inside and out.
In 1976, Lucy was designated a National Historic Landmark by the United States government as the oldest surviving example of a unique form of “zoomorphic” architecture, and the oldest “roadside” attraction in America. Today, she stands as the most popular non-gaming attraction in the greater Atlantic City region. She has brought fame to Margate City and is known all over the globe as “The World’s Largest Elephant.”
Lucy the elephant ???? is an amazing structure. I am 61 years old and grew up in Cherry Hill, NJ and spent every summer with Lucy, going to the beach by the Greenhouse in Margate, NJ. After all these years, it is still my favorite beach… now my daughter and grandchildren enjoy the exact same beach and bought a condo by Lucy! From one generation to the next – long live Lucy!