{"id":239908,"date":"2026-05-21T22:55:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T22:55:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/239908\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T22:55:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T22:55:11","slug":"brooklyn-borough-president-makes-pledge-annually-to-save-nycs-beloved-mermaid-parade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/239908\/","title":{"rendered":"Brooklyn borough president makes pledge annually to save NYC\u2019s beloved Mermaid Parade"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso delivered a $20,000 check to Coney Island USA on Wednesday and committed to providing the same amount annually throughout his term to secure the future of the historic Mermaid Parade, Brooklyn Paper <\/a>reported.<\/p>\n

The pledge comes about a month after organizers warned the 44th annual parade faced potential cancellation due to an urgent financial crisis.<\/p>\n

Reynoso announced the ongoing funding commitment during a press conference outside the organization\u2019s headquarters.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe funding is helping us save the Mermaid Parade, but we want it to be the grandest and biggest parade it could possibly be,\u201d Reynoso said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI couldn\u2019t be prouder, I couldn\u2019t be happier to be the borough president that helped save this year\u2019s Mermaid Parade, and I just want to say that the funding we\u2019re doing today, so long as I\u2019m the Borough President, I will continue to give this funding to Coney Island USA for future Mermaid Parades.\u201d<\/p>\n

The financial crisis sparked international support after organizers issued their warning. A GoFundMe<\/a> campaign raised more than $42,000, and New York Comic Con stepped in as the official presenting sponsor, selecting Coney Island as the theme for its upcoming 20th-anniversary convention.<\/p>\n

Adam Rinn, artistic director of Coney Island USA, said the nonprofit has struggled with financial challenges in recent years and praised Reynoso\u2019s quick response.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Borough President Reynoso heard that there was a possibility that the 44th Mermaid Parade might not happen, he jumped into action faster than the Coney Island Polar Bear Club runs into the icy waters each week,\u201d Rinn said.<\/p>\n

Local performers welcomed the dedicated funding. Nancy Nogood, a drag queen and Coney Island resident, said the support reinforces the neighborhood\u2019s role as a center for creative self-expression.<\/p>\n

MORE BY<\/p>\n

SCOTT R. AXELROD<\/p>\n

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Queerly Femmetastic, the reigning Miss Coney Island, said the annual commitment ensures the event can maintain its traditional scale and production.<\/p>\n

The Mermaid Parade is scheduled for June 20, rain or shine.<\/p>\n

Read the original article on silive.com<\/a>. Add silive.com<\/a> as a Preferred Source by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso delivered a $20,000 check to Coney Island USA on Wednesday and committed to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":239909,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[2898,9788,26362,14480,68330,9,56,63,65,64],"class_list":["post-239908","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-antonio-reynoso","tag-brooklyn-borough-president","tag-brooklyn-paper","tag-coney-island-usa","tag-mermaid-parade","tag-new-york","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239908","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=239908"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239908\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/239909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}