The 2009 Mermaid Parade

One of the many highlights of my Coney Island experience was to not only be able to be in town for the annual Mermaid Parade.....but to actually be IN it. Unfortunately the epic June rains were still in full effect, yet the turnout was seemingly unaffected. The Parade floats and participants lined up right next to our tent on 21st so I was able to snap some pre-parade shots of people getting ready/hanging out.

The rain prevented us from wearing our show costumes so we were instead outfitted with RBBB t-shirts. Our pimp-ass ride more than made up for the lack of costumey grandeur. We rode in style crammed into soggy float cars from one of the big shows armed with bags of clown noses to throw at politely hand out to the crowd.

Earning their rightful place in 'Top 5 Disturbing Things I Witnessed During The Parade' included some dude clad in little more than a fanny pack leaving very little of his lot o' self to the imagination (not that you would EVER want to imagine THAT) and the corpse-like Harvey Kietel playing King Neptune who appeared to be one maniacal laugh away from full blown Cryptkeeper status.

I had met a dude during the parade lineup whose name I unfortunately have since forgotten, but he somehow spotted me along the parade route on the Boardwalk and I received an awesome shout-out:

The post-parade scene on/in the boardwalk/beach/ocean was...just incredible. Once again (notice a trend yet?) my attempt to capture those images and in words would be completely pointless....so here are a few pictures that provide a much more entertaining and accurate portrayal of the day's festivities....