The Coney Island Mermaid Parade is an art

parade A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually celebrations of s ...

held annually in

Coney Island Coney Island is a peninsular neighborhood and entertainment area in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Brighton Beach and Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn, Manhattan Beach to its east, L ...

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. The event, the largest art parade in the United States, is held each year in June and celebrates the arrival of the summer season. Created and produced by the non-profit arts organization

Coney Island USA Coney Island USA is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit arts organization founded in 1980 that is dedicated to the cultural and economic revitalization of the Coney Island neighborhood of Brooklyn in New York City. Its headquarters building in the heart ...

, the 40th annual parade was held on June 18, 2022.

Description

The Mermaid Parade traditionally takes place on the Saturday closest to the

summer solstice The summer solstice, also called the estival solstice or midsummer, occurs when one of Earth's poles has its maximum tilt toward the Sun. It happens twice yearly, once in each hemisphere (Northern and Southern). For that hemisphere, the summer ...

, June 21, regardless of weather. Its intent is to celebrate self-expression, boost pride in Coney Island, and give New York artists a place to display their artwork. There are no ethnic, religious, or commercial aims. The parade pays homage to the Coney Island Mardi Gras parades of the early 20th century. During this era, Coney Island was the primary amusement park destination for those in the

New York metropolitan area The New York metropolitan area, also commonly referred to as the Tri-State area, is the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban area, urban landmass, at , and one of the list of most populous metropolitan areas, most populous urban agg ...

. Like the annual

Village Halloween Parade The Village Halloween Parade is an annual holiday parade on the night of every Halloween, in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City. The parade, initiated in 1974 by Greenwich Village puppeteer and mask maker Ralph Lee, is the world' ...

, the Mermaid Parade evokes the artistic spirit of

Mardi Gras Mardi Gras (, ) refers to events of the Carnival celebration, beginning on or after the Christian feasts of the Epiphany (Three Kings Day) and culminating on the day before Ash Wednesday, which is known as Shrove Tuesday. is French for "Fa ...

. The event typically attracts about 3,000 participants and hundreds of thousands of spectators from all five

boroughs of New York City New York City is composed of five boroughs: The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island. Each borough is coextensive with a respective county of New York State, making New York City the largest U.S. municipality situated ...

. After the last participant passes the reviewing stand, parade founder Dick Zigun leads the procession to the beach for a ceremony representing the opening of the ocean for the summer swimming season.

History

The tradition began in 1983, when the first event of this kind was conceptualized and organized by Dick Zigun, the founder of the non-profit arts organization

, who is sometimes dubbed the "Mayor of Coney Island. The parade of June 22, 2013 was almost canceled due to a lack of money and resources following the recovery from

Hurricane Sandy Hurricane Sandy (unofficially referred to as ''Superstorm Sandy'') was an extremely destructive and strong Atlantic hurricane, as well as the largest Atlantic hurricane on record as measured by diameter, with tropical-storm-force winds spann ...

. It was rescued through a successful

Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...

campaign that raised $117,000, more than the $100,000 goal. The 2020 parade was replaced by a

virtual event Virtual may refer to: * Virtual (horse), a thoroughbred racehorse * Virtual channel, a channel designation which differs from that of the actual radio channel (or range of frequencies) on which the signal travels * Virtual function, a programming ...

(''The Tail-a-Thon'') due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. The parade was delayed in 2021 to September 12 (marking the last weekend that lifeguards would be on duty at Coney Island) in order to improve the chances that it could be held, but on August 18 it was announced that the parade would be cancelled out of an abundance of caution due to a resurgence of COVID-19 in the region.

Themes

The Mermaid Parade is known for

marine Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean. Marine or marines may refer to: Ocean * Maritime (disambiguation) * Marine art * Marine biology * Marine debris * Marine habitats * Marine life * Marine pollution Military ...

costumes and occasional partial nudity. There are sections in the parade for vehicles of all kinds, for floats, for groups, and for individuals. The organizers of the parade claim to encourage

bribery Bribery is the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official, or other person, in charge of a public or legal duty. With regard to governmental operations, essentially, bribery is "Cor ...

, so that participants have a better chance to win the various costume contests, which are also part of the day's entertainment. Each year the Mermaid Parade features a King

Neptune Neptune is the eighth planet from the Sun and the farthest known planet in the Solar System. It is the fourth-largest planet in the Solar System by diameter, the third-most-massive planet, and the densest giant planet. It is 17 time ...

and Queen

Mermaid In folklore, a mermaid is an aquatic creature with the head and upper body of a female human and the tail of a fish. Mermaids appear in the folklore of many cultures worldwide, including Europe, Asia, and Africa. Mermaids are sometimes asso ...

Gallery

References

External links

* * *
Coney Island Mermaids - Photos

* {{cite web , url= http://northstargallery.com/pages/mermaidhome.htm , title= Mermaids and Sirens , publisher= Northstar Gallery , location= PA , quote= Parades from 1998–2004 Articles containing video clips Coney Island Mermaid Parade

Mermaid Parade The Coney Island Mermaid Parade is an art parade held annually in Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York. The event, the largest art parade in the United States, is held each year in June and celebrates the arrival of the summer season. Created and pr ...