Legendary Brooklyn Paper scribe Rose Adams rides through the
Mermaid Parade in 2019. FIle photo by Erica Price
COURIER LIFE, APRIL 16-22, 2021 5
BY ROSE ADAMS
Sea-faring creatures and
mythical sirens will most
likely march through the
People’s Playground again
this year for the 39th annual
Mermaid Parade, which organizers
hope to host in the
late summer or early fall, according
to the man behind
the event.
“It looks like we are going
to do a real parade this
year,” said the founder of the
arts non-profi t Coney Island
USA, Dick Zigun.
The return of the popular
arts festival, which typically
draws north of 600,000 people,
comes one year after the
parade was forced to go virtual
because of the COVID-19
outbreak. Thanks to an increasing
number of Brooklynites
who’ve received the
COVID-19 vaccine, Zigun is
confi dent that the event can
return to Surf Avenue — although
perhaps on a smaller
scale.
“To be honest, we don’t
need to match our all-time
record,” said Zigun, who
started the arts parade in
1983. “The past couple of
years, if it doesn’t rain, we’ve
been averaging 800,000 people.
In my opinion, a teeny
parade of 400,000 people
would be ideal.”
The parade will likely
keep its classic features —
such as its costume contest
and its “inebriated, inept,
and incompetent” judge’s
panel — but Zigun says that
the organization may not advertise
it as heavily in order
to reduce attendance.
But ultimately, the parade’s
fate hinges on the future
of the pandemic.
“We need to pay attention
to what everyone is paying
attention to, which is the infection
rates going down and
vaccination rates going up,”
Zigun said. “We aren’t going
to hold it on our traditional
date of June 19th. That would
be irresponsible; it would be
a super-spreader event.”
Zigun is hoping to hold
the event sometime in early
September before Labor
Day, but the date depends on
when other major parades
get scheduled. Because the
NYPD has limited safety infrastructure
and oversight
capacity, the Mermaid Parade
can’t happen too close to
the West Indian Day Parade,
which is held on Labor Day,
he explained.
News of the Mermaid Parade
comes nearly one week
after the reopening of the
Coney Island amusement
parks, which made local
mavens and politicians rejoice,
both for the fun, and
also because they help reboot
the peninsula’s local
economy.
An in-person Mermaid
Parade would have a similar
effect, Zigun said.
“I’m sure, rain or shine,
even late in the season,
we’ll have a great turnout
… which is an economic
shot in the arm for our community,”
he said.
Clockwise from top left: Mayor Bill de Blasio
helps cut the ribbon to reopen Coney Island’s
amusement parks, park-goers ride the Cyclone,
Mayor Bill de Blasio boards the coaster, the
Wonder Wheel, a stilts performer, people wait
to enter Luna Park, and park managers celebrate
the opening. Photos by Erica Price
Mermaid Parade plans for
in-person celebration
TO CONEY
GO FISH!
after 18 months of closure
no’s Wonder Wheel Amusement
Park, where Mayor Bill
de Blasio awarded both parks
proclamations that declared
April 9, 2021 “Luna Park and
Deno’s Wonder Wheel Amusement
Park Day” in New York
City.
“The rides open today,
and our hearts open up too
because we love this place,”
said the mayor, who later
announced that all public
beaches will open on time
this year. “It’s going to be a
recovery for all of us.”
The ribbon-cutting drew
dozens of other politicians,
such as US Sen. Chuck
Schumer, state Sen. Diane
Savino, state Assemblymember
Mathylde Frontus, and
Councilmember Mark Treyger,
who said that the parks’
reopening represents a new
start following the COVID-19
pandemic.
“Coney Island is one of
the national symbols of New
York,” said Sen. Schumer.
“And when it opens, the
world know that New York is
coming back!”
Zamperla and Dennis
Vourderis thanked the
community for its support
throughout the season-long
closure, and said they’re
ready to turn a new page.
“There are bright days
ahead of us right now, and
so we have to look forward,”
said Vourderis, whose family
has operated the 100-year-old
Wonder Wheel since 1983. “It’s
a great honor for us to be able
to bring some joy into the life
of many New Yorkers.”
The shutdown didn’t only
hurt the amusement parks’
owners. The boardwalk businesses
also took a major hit
during the yearlong closure,
especially since some bars
and restaurants were never
allowed to fully open, one shop
owner said.
“It was tough. Most of my
neighbors and I on the boardwalk
— the ones that were actually
allowed to open — did
around 80 less business,” said
Maya Haddad Miller, who has
operated the Brooklyn Beach
Shop on the boardwalk since
2012. “We’re hopeful that it only
goes up from here, but we anticipate
that it’ll be a slow climb.”
In addition to allowing
amusement park lovers to return,
the reopening also attracted
some fi rst-time visitors.
One such guest was
4-year-old Leon, whose father
was excited to take his son to
his all-time favorite amusement
park for the fi rst time.
“We like amusement parks,
but especially Coney Island,”
said Crown Heights resident
Adam Echahly, who waited on
line with his son. “I’ve been
coming here since I was a little
kid, and now I have my son
with me, and I want us to do
the same thing I did with my
parents.”