Photos: 2011 Mermaid Parade Makes A Splash At Coney Island

It was a perfect day yesterday to be a fish out of water—the annual Coney Island Mermaid Parade rolled down the Boardwalk (err, concretewalk) during the beautiful afternoon. It was a colorful gathering of mermaid costumes, face painters, ambiguous sea creatures and revelers of every ilk. "It's become a better and better show every year," Scott McBride, who was wearing purple jeans, black bat wings and a ruffled turquoise shirt, told the News. Click through to see a sampling of the many, many photo highlights from the parade—be warned, some are NSFW!

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By Ben Yakas in Arts and Events on June 19, 2011 12:45 PM

Comments [rss]

whitecastlerock

Were there any gunshots fired into the crowd? Any beefs resulting in violence? Any arrests?

Donny Russell

The Mermaid Parade is an amazing parade but leave it to the anonymous cowards who have nothing better to do but rip every aspect of a great event. Here's a real world alert to you whiners who live in dream worlds, not every human being has the perfect air brushed body. It's great that anyone can feel free to express themselves in this parade and to the dopes that don't get it, the parade has never been just about dressing up as a mermaid or having an aquatic theme. It's billed as an art parade.

MermaidFornicator

it seems you don't get it:

"The Parade is characterized by participants dressed in hand-made costumes as Mermaids, Neptunes, various sea creatures, the occasional wandering lighthouse, Coney Island post card or amusement ride, as well as antique cars, marching bands, drill teams, and the odd yacht pulled on flatbed."

Citation: http://www.coneyisland.com/mer...

Guest

What do drill teams, marching bands, odd yachts and antique cars have to do with Mermaids? I think Donny's right that people should stop bitching about an event that brings joy to others; if someone can't see the joy in it, they should STFU. There are many, more important things that people could complain about.

Adam Moreira

The pictures that that person got are nice indeed. I was there too, and am still processing pictures.

NlGGAZ

Can we stop calling this the mermaid parade? A mermaid's top half is a beautiful woman and the bottom half is a fish. This parade is basically made up of trannies, old ladies who look like trannies, and rejected suicide girls who are too fat to be on the website.

robingee

The term "tranny" is offensive.

I see a lot of mermaids there, and marine-themed things. So no, we can't stop calling it Mermaid Parade.

virgilstarkwell

"The term "tranny" is offensive."

it is? wow - we've really gotten too overly sensitive as a society then.

RevWaldo

These posts probably work better if you read them in Woody Allen's voice.

robingee

yeaaah... it's not up to you to decide that, it's up to the LGBT community. And judging from your posts, you're a bit of a dick anyway.

(Dick is an offensive term I meant to use just then.)

virgilstarkwell

and by the way, the phrase 'LGBT community' is offensive.

robingee

Did I say "bit of a dick?" I misspoke.

virgilstarkwell

speaking of oversensitive.....

sluntbucket

If these photos are any indication, the imagination and work gone into the costumes fell off hard this year.

robingee

The baby doesn't seem to be fazed by Dad's Shark-face!

da_phonz

I wonder if the baby in pic#5 is being fazed by that Pabst?

XXXnunyaXXX

I really wish people could stay on theme. Anyone who is not dressed as something related to the ocean should be booted from participating in the parade. The concept of the parade is awesome, but it seems like it has just become a reason for half-nekkid freaks to gather and parade around. Some of those girls look like strippers from the 20's. What does that have to do with mermaids?

Guest

I thought the theme was to have fun celebrating Coney Island and summer.

MermaidFornicator

afreed. if you can't stick to the theme save your "costume" for halloween.

virgilstarkwell

there seems to be a lot of overlap between people who are inclined to take their clothes off in public and people who shouldn't take their clothes off in public.