Lucy the Elephant secures funding for internal repairs following feds clawing back previously promised dollars

They say beauty is what’s on the inside. But, if you’re Lucy the Elephant, the 65-foot tall animal structure in Margate along the Jersey Shore, that’s not a good thing.

The plaster walls lining the inside of her belly are splotched from water damage and the soles of her feet (wood floors) are in desperate need of a good pumice stone (refinishing job).

Fortunately for her, due to a $350,000 grant Sen. Cory Booker’s office secured for the 2026 fiscal year, a makeover is finally on the way. Albeit a year later than planned.

That grant will round out the remaining balance for the interior repair project which is slated to cost between $800,000 and $1 million, said Richard Helfant, executive director of the Save Lucy Committee, the organization that runs the operations within the elephant.

Upgrades will include repairing and resurfacing her interior walls, stripping and refinishing the yellow pine floors which have become worn from sand, replacing Lucy’s 50-year-old HVAC system and swapping out her rusty sprinklers.

The interior work isn’t the only new element coming to the Lucy experience. The nonprofit is also building a new visitor center with a larger gift shop, a virtual tour of Lucy for those with disabilities, displays of memorabilia about Lucy and Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant bathrooms. That project will cost around $5 million and likely be funded through a state economic development program.

Helfant said the plan is to break ground on the new building in late April or May, and complete both the visitor’s center and interior work by the summer of next year.

Lucy, who’s withstood hurricanes, lightning strikes and fires in her nearly 145 years, understands the value of patience, but she didn’t anticipate needing to wait two years to have her splotches repaired and her soles mended.

About two years ago, the Save Lucy Committee applied for a 2025 fiscal year grant through Booker’s office, Helfant said. The senator allocated $500,000 for the project through congressionally directed spending, a program that allows lawmakers to allot funds to specific projects.

But that money never came. That year, Senate Republicans didn’t pass a budget, instead opting to fund the government via continuing resolutions.

That sparked a fire within the Lucy fan base. Donations came in from across the world, Helfant said. Supporters pitched in from Germany, Switzerland, England, France, and Australia.

“Lucy is more than just wood and metal and nails,” Helfant said. “There is a spirit to her. You can’t even describe it, but it’s true. That’s why, when people get involved with Lucy, they’re involved for life.”

And he would know. Helfant, now 68, first got involved with Lucy in seventh grade, selling candy to save her from the wrecking ball, he said.

“Once you see her you can’t help but love her,” he said.

The senator’s office urged the Save Lucy Committee to try for the funding again in the 2026 fiscal year, Helfant said. Booker secured $350,000 for the project. Thanks to that, a $750,000 grant from the New Jersey Historic Trust, about half of which will go toward this internal work, and supplemental funds from donors, Lucy is finally on track to get her Cinderella moment next summer.

Though it may seem like a simple new set of sprinklers and fresh strips of wood, the transformation as a whole means that, in a world where everything changes and decays with time, Lucy can still transport visitors to the past.

“For the people who knew her as a kid, she was a part of their heritage; she was a part of their childhood; she’s a part of what made people feel warm and fuzzy and good,” Helfant said. “In America, people are quick to tear things down and Lucy will not be torn down. Lucy is forever.”