Milford chronicle., 1948-08-06
Pageantry At Bowers
By II. ]. DOdd

by hs Jo DO00
Like big man eating a big meal,
a big day is full Of many things,
some of which may not prove to
be entirely and comfortably diges-
tible. Such day is Big Thursday
at Bowers Beach, long held as a
traditional friend-an-frolic outing
Of the summer.
Like so few of the fine old Gus
toms that have survived the evo-
luton of transportation and recr-
alton, Big Thursday continues to
attract hundreds of holiday-mind-
ed persons to this fishing mecca on
the west shore of Delaware Bay.
It is no uncommon sight to see
picnic parties on both sides of
Murderkin Greek at Bowers any
day in July or August. The ubi-
quituOus fishing fleet" churns bay
ward each morning filled with
tyro and professional fishermen
from Delaware and many other
states.
On the eve of Big Thursday this
usual activity is dwarfed by prep
aratiOns to receive the annual in
lux of celebrants.
Hotels and rOOming houses Ov-
lerhOW. Many room seekers are
I turned away, and have to spread
blankets upon the sand, throw up
mosquito net and spend the night
in the Open.i others come prepar-
ed with all types of tents and port
able shelters, including auto trail
lers.
Long before the people from sur
rounding towns arrive to swell the
crowd, these nOmads from foreign
states, like Pennsylvania and New
Jersey, have had their breakfasts
and have boarded the boats for a
gamble with their luck.
Small fry from the summer cot
tages, Oldtimers both local and in
| trOduced, are on hand early at the
dock. They line up along the
/ boardwalk to watch the fishermen
embark.
The renting of fishing tackle and
4 the selling of bait flOurishes in this
i lhushed pre-daWn hour. Then the
boats start their engines and for
i fifteen or twenty minutes, there is
a clamor that might be expected
to warn all fish in the bay that
mayhem was in the making. Then
the Big Thursday contingent of
/ pleasure seekers is water borne,
and a vegetarian shUdders to con-
slider the life of fish on a morn
ing like this.
Desultory talk among the spec
tators fills the silence, following
the departure of the fleet" Talk
about other Big Thursday 'hauls .
Small fry draw on their imagina-
tions to anticipate the boats re-
4 turning so loaded with fish that
they are interlarded between the
crew and the members of the par
i ty. Oldsters keep Juvenile interest
lprimed with stories of rare prizes
1 brought in by this or that skipper
the demfiOhn of Irish whiskey;
1.-THE toOIed-leather Western saddle
that fouled the lines of one party;
the bottles with messages found
floating at the. fishing grounds
i They also talk of the accidents
About the time a squan capsized
the Henrietta and one man was
! drowned. Or when an explosion
aboard a party boat killed some
and MANNED others.
The small fry shiver and try tC
visualize these things as only small
fry can-in technicOlOr and SOUND
effects. For them, the day has been
launched by these exciting recitals
of other Big Thursdays. For many
of these tykes it will be day mark
ed by a succession of things to eat
or drink, beginning with a light
! breakfast, followed at close inter
walls by hOt-dogs, ice cream, soda
peanuts, cake, pie and hot dogs
again. At its beginning it is like
any other day for the oldsters and
| the summer boarders. Hot, humid
with a promise of overdue rain. A
4 haze is over the creek and bay. 9
haze which swallows up the noisy
boats forty feet from the dock.
; A dull, red sun smudges the