CHINCOTEAGUE -- Crowds are gathering on the banks of Assateague Channel this morning in anticipation of the 85th annual Pony Swim.Accomack County Public Schools buses are taking people to Chincoteague's Veterans' Memorial Park to watch the event, made famous by Marguerite Henry's 1947 novel, "Misty of Chincoteague."
Longtime residents and people with an intricate knowledge of the event serve as guides on the buses, providing onlookers -- estimated to be in the tens of thousands -- with information about the event.
"The best thing to do is move forward and to the right," said guide Kat Edwards to a bus with onlookers. "Get as close as you can."
She told those on the bus that the first pony ashore will be named King or Queen Neptune and will be raffled off at the Fireman's Carnival.
But members of a family seated in the middle of the bus, with a young daughter in tow, shook their heads when Edwards announced the raffle.
Edwards, whose day job is director of housing services for the Accomack-Northampton Planning District Commission, laughed.
"Don't let your kids hear that? Is that what you're trying to say?" she asked, as the young girl suddenly became interested in winning a pony.
They got off the bus and blended into the crowd at Memorial Park, some people seated in lawn chairs, others farther down the coast, standing in marsh grass, looking toward the channel.
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