Lucy the 65-foot elephant needs patch
Monday, October 19th, 2009
By: Tom MacDonald
tmacdonald@whyy.org
The Jersey Shore's most famous pachyderm is sporting a bandage.
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Lucy the Elephant is a national historic landmark in Margate. She stands 65 feet tall. She was injured September 11th when a tent blew off the ground hitting the tail. Rich Helifant is Lucy's Executive Director. He patched her up with cheese cloth and red duct tape, but the damage is extensive.
Helifant: The tail is built out of metal bands that just wind down, and it cracked two of them, and the tail had been jarred or dislocated from where it normally sits and then I noticed dents to a lot of the tin panels that are around Lucy's butt and right rear leg.
Over 80 panels in all have been damaged, and replacing the tin panels will cost about $45,000 dollars. Helifont says he is hoping for donations to cover $20,000 dollars of the cost, the rest is covered by an insurance policy.