37th Annual Mermaid Parade In New York City

New York City Art Sports & Entertainment - Coney Island Mermaid Parade 2019 |
Tags: #mermaidparade #mermaidparade2019 |

Date: June 22, 2019 |
Location: Coney Island Brooklyn, NY |
Images by 'Nitro' Nuri Shakoor, Urban Art photojournalist for NYC-ASE.

Surf Avenue set the stage for one of New York's City's most creative, eclectic, and vibrant parades yesterday at Brooklyn's iconic Coney Island for the 37th annual Mermaid Parade 2019. With over 800,000 in attendance, The Mermaid Parade celebrates the beginning of summer in New York City with some of the most vibrant and creative parade pageantry.

Excerpt from the official Mermaid Parade website: A completely original creation of Coney Island USA (the not for profit arts organization at 1208 Surf Avenue), the Mermaid Parade is the nation's largest art parade and one of New York City's greatest summer events. A celebration of ancient mythology and honky-tonk rituals of the seaside, it showcases over 3,000 creative individuals from all over the five boroughs and beyond, opening the summer with incredible art, entrepreneurial spirit and community pride. The parade highlights Coney Island Pageantry based on a century of many Coney parades, celebrates the artistic vision of the masses, and ensures that the summer season is a success by bringing hundreds of thousands of people to the amusement area in a single day.*

The MERMAID PARADE specifically was founded in 1983 with 3 goals: it brings mythology to life for local residents who live on streets named Mermaid and Neptune ; it creates self-esteem in a district that is often disregarded as “entertainment“; and it lets artistic New Yorkers find self-expression in public.*

Unlike most parades, this one has no ethnic, religious, or commercial aims. It´s a major New York holiday invented by artists! An American version of the summer-solstice celebration, it takes pride of place with West African Water Festivals and Ancient Greek and Roman street theater. It's features participants dressed in hand-made costumes based on themes and categories set by us. This creates an artistic framework on which artists can improvise, resulting in the flourishing of frivolity, dedication, pride, and personal vision that has become how New York celebrates summer.*

*Reference: https://www.coneyisland.com/programs/mermaid-parade | Full image database with stunning and vibrant photos from the 2019 Mermaid Parade can be found at this link: https://www.uabn-nyc.com/photojournalism/2019/6/23/37th-annual-coney-island-mermaid-parade | Video clips from some of the exciting action from Coney Island is available for viewing on the New York City Arts, Sports, and Entertainment website at www.newyorkcityartsandsports.com