Coney Island Mermaid Parade

This past Saturday one of New York's greatest summertime events took place in Brooklyn's Coney Island. The Mermaid Parade, founded in 1983, is one of the Nation's largest art parades that pays homage to New York's forgotten Mardi Gras which lasted from 1903 to 1954. It also draws inspiration from an abundance of other sources resulting in a fun, crazy, and exciting event that is unique to Coney Island. This year was my first attending the parade and it was an experience I won't ever forget.


The Mermaid Parade is exactly what you might think it would be- a parade of creative individuals dressed as sea creatures, sailors, pirates, mermaids and more. It was a perfect day with the sun shining, music playing, beautiful, unique costumes and wonderful people everywhere. The costumes were of course my favorite part.

I saw so many different kinds of mermaids and other characters at the parade: A Paris Hilton Mermaid with her small dog who was just released from under water prison, a race car driving mermaid, Mermaids who's scales were painted onto their entire bodies, Gothic Mermaids, Vintage looking sailors, a very tall Uncle Sam, a Where the Wild Things are family, and even Ronald McDonald accompanied by two mermaids, one on each arm.

Being the fashion and art lovers that we are, my friends and I definitely took up the excuse to dress up. Rachel, of I Watch the Roses of the Day Grow Deep, designed and created a beautiful mermaid inspired leotard, while Jillian, of Fox & the Found, put together a culmination of things- a blue gem stone bra and a black net, to create her own mermaid inspired look. My friends AJ, Katie, Christy, and I also put our on spin on the theme. Below are some photographs of the amazing costumed people I met and the beautiful scenery at Coney Island's Mermaid Parade. I hope to see you there in 2013!

See more photos from the Mermaid Parade on my tumblr