I went to Coney Island's Mermaid Parade for the first time! Bad luck and bad weather conspired in years past to keep me from this excellent event, but Saturday's parade was everything I'd imagined it'd be. Although my beloved Coney Island was JAMPACKED with crowds, I saw lots of marvelous costumes, floats, and pasties! The BP oil leak / spill was a popular theme for this year's mermaids, with many lovely mermaids and mermen smeared in black goo and protesting the damage BP's done to marine life.Also seen: zombie mermaids, alien mermaids, baby mermaids, mermaids on stilts, totally topless / bare-boobed mermaids, a sharkbike, a man with a
parrot on his head pushing a miniature poodle in a stroller, Lou Reed as King Neptune and Laurie Anderson as Queen Mermaid, Darth Vader HelloKitty-style, a merman in a sparkly bikini top with a movable and biting shark head as the crotch part of his speedo, an elephant, a male spectator wearing only a thong to better display his butt tattoos, etc etc etc etc.
The Mermaid Parade is just another reason why Coney Island is one of my very favorite places on earth. A new addition to my Things To Do List: walk in the Mermaid Parade!
(Sharkcrotch merman photo credit: Liv Anna Homstead)
The man with the parrot and the minature poodle is someone i know, who calls himself (among other things) Ms Columbia. He's a sweet guy and LOVES to be photographed. i have my own archive on him, eda (Naomi's aunt)
ReplyDeleteExcellent! It was amazing how the parrot just stayed on his head.
ReplyDelete