S♦P♦E♦C♦T♦A♦C♦U♦L♦A♦R C♦O♦N♦E♦Y I♦S♦L♦A♦N♦D
THE MARCH TO SEA!
Your guide to this year’s Mermaid Parade
BY TAMMY SCILEPPI
The ‘maids are back in
Brooklyn!
Mermaid encounters may
be rare elsewhere, but in
Kings County they are an
annual event! Fabulous sea
creatures and Poseidon worshippers
will take over Coney
Island this Saturday for
the 37th Annual Mermaid Parade,
which attracts hundreds
of thousands of visitors to the
People’s Playground every
summer, according to the parade’s
founder.
“It’s the biggest day of the
year in Coney Island,” said
Dick Zigun, who also founded
the arts group Coney Island
USA. The “unelected mayor
of Coney Island” has donned
a vintage bathing suit and
top hat to leads the costumed
marchers every year since he
launched the unique event in
1980. The event was designed
to showcase the uniquely colorful
Coney Island spirit, he
said.
“When I moved to Coney
Island, it was an eclectic, bohemian,
weirdo neighborhood
full of eccentric people,” he recalled.
“In a big way, I wanted
to make a statement about
what an art scene in Coney Island
would look like. The parade
was an immediate hit and
it’s gotten bigger and bigger.”
28 COURIER LIFE, JUNE 21-27, 2019
Highlights over the years
have included marching
bands with hundreds of people
in uniform; a “cork creature”
covered with corks from
champagne bottles, riding on
a unicycle, people dressed as
lobsters, and others as cans of
tuna, Zigun remembered.
“Someone spent thousands
towing a yacht on a trailer,
driving down Surf; there was
an elephant from Ringling
Bros Circus,” he added. “You
never know what you’re gonna
see.”
The procession this year
will include antique cars, human
powered and motorized
fl oats, scantily clad aquatic
partiers, marching bands,
and this year’s King Neptune
Norman Blake
and Queen Mermaid: folk performer
Arlo Guthrie and his
sister, archivist Nora Guthrie,
who both grew up in Coney Island.
The parade will kick off at 1
p.m. at Surf Avenue and W. 21st
Street; proceeds down Surf
Avenue to West 10th Street;
turns and marches towards
the Boardwalk, then proceeds
along the Boardwalk to its end
point at Steeplechase Plaza,
near the parachute drop
The best place to watch
the parade is from the Judge
Viewing Stand at the start of
the parade, but those tickets
have already sold out.
A close second might be the
second-fl oor patio of the Surf
Avenue Applebee’s, which
looks over the parade route.
For $40 per person (standing
room only) you get bar snacks
and two drinks; $20 for kids 12
or younger. Call (718) 372–0070
to see if spots are still available.
For those watching from
ground level; Zigun advises
staying away from the most
crowded area, between Nathan’s
Famous Frankfurters
and Luna Park; the sidewalk
in front of MCU Park offers
a good view; and from there
you can visit parade sponsor
Coney Island Brewery for refreshments.
The parade lasts for about
three hours, so if you might
want to leave early, be sure to
stay on the side of Surf Avenue
away from the beach, since
crossing will be diffi cult.
After the parade, Zigun
will lead the King and Queen
in a procession to the beach,
for a Beach Ceremony opening
the ocean for the summer
swimming season. An afterparty
withe live bands and
burlesque performances will
follow on the rooftop bar of
Kitchen 21 nearby.
Mermaid Parade (on Surf
Avenue from W. 21st Street to
W. 10th Street in Coney Island,
www.mermaidparade.com).
June 22 at 1 p.m. Free.
Mermaid Parade After-
Party at Kitchen 21 (W. 21st
Street at the Boardwalk in Coney
Island). June 22; 5–11 p.m.
$25.
A BANNER YEAR: The 37th
Annual Mermaid Parade will
march down Surf Avenue in
Coney Island on June 22 at
1 p.m. Norman Blake
SEA AND BE SEEN: Thousand dress up like sea creatures for the Mermaid Parade each year. Founder Dick Zigun leads the parade each year.
Photo by Paul Martinka
/www.mermaidparade.com
/www.mermaidparade.com)