Coney Island USA: Mermaid Parade will be back this summer

By Brooklyn Magazine Staff

Coney Island’s Mermaid Parade is returning this summer after a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic.

Organizers announced that 40th edition of the parade, which brings together Brooklynites dressed (and undressed) in their most colorful mermaid garb, will be held on Saturday, June 18. The (usually) annual event draws thousands to the Coney Island Boardwalk and serves as the unofficial kickoff to summer.

Additional details about this year’s event will soon be released, including which celebrities will reign as King Neptune and Queen Mermaid, but the organization said registration will open February 14.

“We’re all looking forward to the fun and creative spirit that the parade participants bring to the event and will be in full compliance with any Covid-related protocols that are put in place,” Adam Rinn, artistic director for Coney Island USA, tells Brooklyn Magazine. “The safety of our participants and viewers is of the utmost importance.”

First held in 1983, the artist-created parade that slithers down Surf Ave. with three goals, including to give life to the area’s street names, like Mermaid and Neptune; to provide a creative outlet for New Yorkers, and to inspire “self-esteem in a district that is often disregarded as ‘entertainment.'”

Coney Island USA, the non-profit organization that plans the event, recently created a sideshow of its own for the firing of its former artistic director and founder Dick Zigun over apparent succession issues.

Zigun—the self-appointed, unofficial Coney Island mayor-for-life—said on Twitter that the parade doesn’t yet have a permit to hold the June event.

Rinn declined to comment on Zigun’s tweet.

Board of Directors is supposed to be NEGOTIATING this week instead they seem to be sending out Press Releases they have No Right to send out! There is no agreement and they have no permit.https://t.co/WObIIK5fok

— Dick Zigun (@DickZigun) February 9, 2022