For Peter Agrapides, learning that this year\u2019s Coney Island Mermaid Parade festivities are officially back on brought a significant sense of relief.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s our second biggest day. [The] Fourth of July is number one. Second is Mermaid Day Parade,\u201d Agrapides, the owner of Williams Candy and Pete\u2019s Clam Stop on Coney Island, said. \u201cWithout that, we\u2019d lose a lot down here. A lot of business.\u201d<\/p>\n
What You Need To Know<\/p>\n
Organizers say they feared financial issues might cancel this year\u2019s Coney Island Mermaid Parade, but they announced Wednesday that the 44th annual parade will be taking place June 20, rain or shine
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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
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Parade organizers also say New York Comic Con has come through with financial support as a presenting sponsor<\/p>\n
Both of his stores are right along the parade route.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe found out the casinos are not coming, and the Mermaid Parade is going to happen,\u201d Agrapides said. \u201cSo it\u2019s all good. If the casino were to [come], it would have [taken] our property too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since 1983, the iconic Mermaid Parade has attracted both New Yorkers and tourists alike to mark the start of summer on Coney Island.<\/p>\n
Organizers say they feared financial issues might cancel this year\u2019s parade, but they announced Wednesday that the 44th annual parade will be taking place June 20th, rain or shine.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen 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,\u201d Adam Rinn, the artistic director of Coney Island USA, said.<\/p>\n
Rinn was joined by Reynoso as the borough leader delivered a $20,000 check to help bring forth what he hopes will be \u201cthe biggest and baddest parade in the history of mermaid parades.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is Brooklyn without Coney Island?\u201d Reynoso asked. \u201cWhat is Coney Island without the Mermaid Parade? I\u2019m the Brooklyn borough president and I\u2019ll be damned if the Mermaid Parade won\u2019t run any parade that I am borough president.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u2019s parade.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cConey Island is the first place in [New York City] that I truly felt at home,\u201d Nancy Nogood, a drag artist, said. \u201cAnd 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a staple here,\u201d Ethan Quinones, who grew up in Gravesend, said. \u201cIt needs to happen. It\u2019s part of Coney Island. It\u2019s part of Brooklyn.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u2019s New York Comic Con is Coney Island.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For Peter Agrapides, learning that this year\u2019s Coney Island Mermaid Parade festivities are officially back on brought a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":167618,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[2296,25,98,100,99,231,9,24,12,63,10387,27],"class_list":["post-238809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-app-human-interest","tag-app-top-stories","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-human-interest","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-news","tag-nyc","tag-ron-lee","tag-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=238809"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238809\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/167618"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}