Overview
- Coney Island USA confirmed the 44th Mermaid Parade will run Saturday, June 20, starting at 1 p.m. from Surf Avenue and West 21st Street with roughly 5,000 participants expected.
- Musicians Jesse Malin and Rickie Lee Jones will serve as this year’s King Neptune and Queen Mermaid and will lead the procession in the parade’s traditional boardwalk chair.
- Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso pledged $20,000 to Coney Island USA and said he will allocate the same amount each year for the rest of his term, a commitment that organizers said helped secure the event.
- Advance registration is closed but day-of check-in opens at 10 a.m. near the kick-off; the route proceeds east to West 10th Street then onto the boardwalk and ends near Steeplechase Plaza, followed by a beach procession to open the swim season.
- Founded in 1983, the Mermaid Parade is billed as the nation’s largest art parade and serves as an unofficial start to summer in New York City, so the new municipal pledge could shape the parade’s short-term financial stability and its role as a major community ritual.