92nd Annual Chincoteague Pony Swim bringing in large crowds and big bucks

Up to 40,000 people came out for the 92nd Annual Chincoteague Pony Swim.

Over 150 horses were able to become sea horses for a few moments swimming their way across the Assateague Channel to Chincoteague.

This pony swim was one of the earliest in years. Swim time being 6 a.m.- 8 a.m. But the ponies can only swim out during slack tide, which is a 30 minute time period where there is no current. The horses were able to finally set out shortly after 7 a.m.

And the swim across may have lasted less than five minutes, but what this pony swim does for Chincoteague's economy is quite long term.

Organizers say that the tourism industry drives Chincoteague's economy.

Denise Bowden is the Public Relations Officer for Chincoteague's Volunteer Fire Company who says, "The pony swim, having the auction, it's two fold. It helps raise money for us to help buy half a million dollar fire trucks, $200,000 ambulances and also it helps the population down there to where our permit should be."

After the swim, the ponies then rest for 45 minutes. From there, they parade down to Main Street to the carnival grounds, known as Chincoteague Fireman's Carnival.

We are told the purpose of the pony swim is to move the ponies from Assateague Island to Chincoteague so that the foals can be auctioned. Among those foals, Buy Back Ponies are among the mix.

A Buy Back Pony returns back to Assateague Island to live out its life there. They actually replenish the herd on Assateague.

The first foal to come ashore is given away in a raffle drawing. This year's winner is King Neptune, a brown little baby boy that has a blaze star on its head.

For this raffle alone, they generally sell around $7,500.

Besides making big bucks, organizers couldn't help but be excited that Chincoteague is still getting nationwide recognition for the past 92 years.

History of the pony swim:

The event was made famous by Marguerite Henry's book called "Misty of Chincoteague" written 70 years ago.

Henry was inspired to write the book when she traveled to the island to witness the annual swim.

The book won the Newbery Honor in 1948 and became a children's classic. Then in 1961, the film came out called Misty and it was based on the book. Henry later wrote a series of sequels to the original book.