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Asbury Park
On a bright, sunny day in July of 1894, Sterling
Elliot, the editor of the periodical Good Roads, was attending a convention in Asbury Park when he found himself in the midst
of a sea of spectators. Elliot was at first unsure of the cause of the commotion and flagged down a local policeman. "What's
up?" he asked the frantic constable who, after giving the newspaperman an incredulous look, replied tersely, "Baby Show."
Elliot has stumbled upon an event that at its peak drew over 100,000 spectators to the one-mile long Asbury Park boardwalk.
The
first baby parade was held in Asbury Park on July 22, 1890 and had 200 children competing for the grand prize of, what else--a
baby carriage. What a sight it must have been, the bands serenading the oceanfront crowd with "Rock-a-Bye Baby," while Asbury's
founder, James Bradley, carrying his trademark white umbrella, led the red, white, and blue caravan. The fearless judges of
that first parade were a foolhardy bunch and presumed to award prizes to the handsomest babies. By the time Sterling Elliot
visited Asbury Park the current crop of judges had decided it less dangerous to judge the best decorated carriages rather
than the physical attributes of the occupant.
(continued in book)
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Atlantic City Chapter.
On a bright, warm summer
day in June of 1918 the Atlantic City Boardwalk - (the city adopted the name boardwalk as a street name in 1896, thus a capital
“B” is always used to when referring to Atlantic City’s walkway) - was packed with families enjoying the warm sun on their
face, and the human throng that was the Boardwalk. Couples felt like they were part of the Social Register as roller chair
transported them up and down the busy Boardwalk. There was another attraction that late Spring day as the Mystic Shriners
had a parade scheduled and were dressed in their colorful, full regalia.
All at once the alarm was raised when a police
officer on the Boardwalk noticed a lifeboat crammed with people on the ocean horizon. Everyone stopped what they were doing
and ran to the surf to help. The lifeguards launched their boats, and the tourists, along with the fully dressed Shriners,
ran waist deep into the ocean to help guide the boat ashore. They helped twenty-nine cold and weary, men, women and children
onto the beach and heard a bone-chilling tale. They were survivors of the steamship Carolina that had been torpedoed by a
German U-Boat almost two days earlier. The told how the submarine officer boarder their ship, informed them he meant them
no harm but was under orders to sink the ship. They were permitted to enter, and launch the lifeboat, and watch from a distance
as their ship was destroyed. In an endearing sign of the era, The New York Times reported that, “The band of Lu Lu Temple
of Philadelphia, which was parading down the Boardwalk from the Shriners’ Hall, joined the crowd and as the boat swept in
it struck up the “Star-Spangled Banner.” The crowds cheered and many women wept.”
(continued in the book )
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