Chincoteague, VA — Each year, thousands of people flock to Chincoteague Island to watch the Pony Penning and Pony Auction on the last Wednesday and Thursday of July. 2007 marks the 82nd annual event in which “salt water cowboys” herd horses at low tide across the narrowest part of the Assateague Channel to Chincoteague Island. After a resting period and veterinary examination, the horses are herded through town to a corral at the Firemen’s Carnival Grounds where they stay until the next day’s auction. The Pony Auction provides a source of income for the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Department and trims the herd’s numbers to retain the permit to graze on the federal refuge.    

For several years, the Chincoteague Post Office has offered pictorial postmarks to commemorate the annual event. In recent years, the Post Office turned to local students to design the postmark used for each day of the Pony Penning and the design used on the commemorative envelope or cachet.

The winning July 25th and 26th pictorial postmark designs were created by first-grade and ninth-grade students in the Chincoteague Public School System. The cachet features a picture of wild horses being lead by salt water cowboy Benny Bowden, who is also a letter carrier at the Chincoteague Post Office.

“We’re so happy to be a part of this legendary event,” said Chincoteague Postmaster Christine Dore, “and to include Island students in commemorating the penning and auction.” According to Dore, postal employees will be onsite at the mobile postal retail van both days beginning at 8 a.m., and the student artists will be periodically available to autograph cachets featuring their pictorial postmark design. There is a limited supply of the cachet envelopes which will be sold for $1.75 each. The pictorial postmark, available at the Carnival Grounds on Wednesday and Thursday, can also be applied to post cards at no charge.  The mobile Post Office will also sell postage stamps and some retail products.

Those who can’t attend the annual event and want a pictorial postmark can send an envelope or post card of their choice with postage applied, addressed to themselves, and placed in a larger envelope addressed to:  Pony Penning, Postmaster, PO Box 9998, Chincoteague, VA  23336-9998.  Be sure to specify the pictorial postmark date to be applied to each envelope or card.  All mail-in requests for a cancellation must be submitted by August 25.

Please Note: For broadcast quality video and audio, photo stills and other media resources, visit the USPS Newsroom at www.usps.com/news.

# # #

An independent federal agency, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that visits every address in the nation, 146 million homes and businesses, six days a week. It has 37,000 retail locations and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to pay for operating expenses, not tax dollars. The Postal Service has annual revenues of $73 billion and delivers nearly half the world’s mail.