For Peter Agrapides, learning that this year’s Coney Island Mermaid Parade festivities are officially back on brought a significant sense of relief.

“It’s our second biggest day. [The] Fourth of July is number one. Second is Mermaid Day Parade,” Agrapides, the owner of Williams Candy and Pete’s Clam Stop on Coney Island, said. “Without that, we’d lose a lot down here. A lot of business.”

What You Need To Know

Organizers say they feared financial issues might cancel this year’s Coney Island Mermaid Parade, but they announced Wednesday that the 44th annual parade will be taking place June 20, rain or shine

According to organizers, a GoFundMe campaign that helped raised more than $40,000 and a $20,000 check Wednesday from Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso are making it possible to move forward with an annual tradition that many people say means a lot to them and the arts community

Parade organizers also say New York Comic Con has come through with financial support as a presenting sponsor

Both of his stores are right along the parade route.

“We found out the casinos are not coming, and the Mermaid Parade is going to happen,” Agrapides said. “So it’s all good. If the casino were to [come], it would have [taken] our property too.”

Since 1983, the iconic Mermaid Parade has attracted both New Yorkers and tourists alike to mark the start of summer on Coney Island.

Organizers say they feared financial issues might cancel this year’s parade, but they announced Wednesday that the 44th annual parade will be taking place June 20th, rain or shine.

“When Borough President [Antonio] Reynoso heard there was a possibility that the 44th Mermaid Parade might not happen, he jumped to action faster than the Coney Island Polar Bear Club runs into the icy waters each week,” Adam Rinn, the artistic director of Coney Island USA, said.

Rinn was joined by Reynoso as the borough leader delivered a $20,000 check to help bring forth what he hopes will be “the biggest and baddest parade in the history of mermaid parades.”

“What is Brooklyn without Coney Island?” Reynoso asked. “What is Coney Island without the Mermaid Parade? I’m the Brooklyn borough president and I’ll be damned if the Mermaid Parade won’t run any parade that I am borough president.”

Coney Island USA, the nonprofit that produces the parade, had said earlier this year that after a harsh winter and a difficult battle to protect the neighborhood from a proposed casino, it had struggled to raise the necessary funds for this year’s parade.

Organizers say a GoFundMe campaign that helped raise more than $40,000 and the $20,000 from the borough president are making it possible to move forward with an event that many people say means a lot to them and the arts community.

“Coney Island is the first place in [New York City] that I truly felt at home,” Nancy Nogood, a drag artist, said. “And the Mermaid Parade for me is really genuinely and extension of that, to be able to be exactly who I am, as a queer person, as a drag artist and to express that in a way that only the Mermaid Parade knows how.”

“It’s a staple here,” Ethan Quinones, who grew up in Gravesend, said. “It needs to happen. It’s part of Coney Island. It’s part of Brooklyn.”

Parade organizers also say New York Comic Con has come through with financial support as a presenting sponsor. They also mentioned that the theme of this year’s New York Comic Con is Coney Island.