{"id":268981,"date":"2026-06-16T22:20:29","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T22:20:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/268981\/"},"modified":"2026-06-16T22:20:29","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T22:20:29","slug":"coney-islands-mermaid-parade-returns-on-saturday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/268981\/","title":{"rendered":"Coney Island&#8217;s Mermaid Parade returns on Saturday"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>            <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"Coney Island\u2019s Mermaid Parade returns on Saturday\" alt=\"Coney Island\u2019s Mermaid Parade returns on Saturday\" class=\"wp-post-image nolazyload\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Mermaid-Parade-2025-1.jpg\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>All photos by Eliza Rinn, unless noted otherwise<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.coneyisland.com\/mermaidparade\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" title=\"\">Mermaid Parade<\/a> returns to the Coney Island boardwalk this Saturday for its 44th year, bringing its annual sea-themed celebration back to Brooklyn\u2019s shoreline. Hosted by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.coneyisland.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" title=\"\">Coney Island USA<\/a>, the event is the nation\u2019s biggest art parade, drawing around 5,000 participants in handmade sea-themed costumes and floats. This year\u2019s parade takes place on Saturday, June 20, at 1 p.m., rain or shine.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1040\" height=\"693\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Mermaid-Parade-2025-6-1040x693.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-241231\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>Founded by Coney Island USA in 1983, the Mermaid Parade is often described as the unofficial start to summer in New York City. It pays homage to the neighborhood\u2019s early 20th-century Mardi Gras parades and draws on themes from ancient mythology and seaside rituals, highlighting the city\u2019s creativity and community pride, as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.6sqft.com\/coney-islands-mermaid-parade-2025\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">6sqft previously reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Known to draw hundreds of thousands of spectators, the parade features colorful costumes and floats, along with marching bands, drill teams, dancers, antique cars and more.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1040\" height=\"693\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Mermaid-Parade-2025-2-1040x693.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-241227\"  \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1040\" height=\"693\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Mermaid-Parade-2025-7-1040x693.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-241233\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>The parade begins at 1 p.m. at West 21st Street and Surf Avenue, proceeds east to West 10th Street, then turns south to the boardwalk before continuing west to Steeplechase Plaza.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1040\" height=\"572\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/44th-Annual-Mermaid-Parade-Map-1040x572.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-241236\"  \/>Map courtesy of Coney Island USA<\/p>\n<p>This year, New York-based musician Jesse Malin and two-time Grammy Award winner Rickie Lee Jones will serve as King Neptune and Queen Mermaid. As part of the tradition, the pair will be wheeled through the parade in an antique wicker boardwalk chair dating to 1923.<\/p>\n<p>Previous King Neptunes and Queen Mermaids have included Lou Reed, David Byrne, Queen Latifah, Annabella Sciorra, Harvey and Daphne Keitel, and other famous figures.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1040\" height=\"693\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Mermaid-Parade-2025-3-1040x693.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-241228\"  \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1040\" height=\"693\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Mermaid-Parade-2025-5-1040x693.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-241230\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur King and Queen this year are two exceptionally talented musicians,\u201d Adam Rinn, Coney Island USA\u2019s Artistic Director, said. \u201cOur King, Jesse Malin is not only an amazing songwriter and musician who\u2019s toured the world, he\u2019s the king of New York nightlife and a true inspiration! And Rickie Lee Jones, what can I say, iconic, legendary, and influential are just a few words to describe our Queen.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Immediately after the parade at 4 p.m., Rinn will lead the King and Queen in a procession to the beach at 19th Street, where they will officially open the beach for the summer swimming season.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1040\" height=\"693\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Mermaid-Parade-2025-4-1040x693.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-241229\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>Parade registration takes place from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the parking lot between West 21st and West 22nd Streets along Surf Avenue. Learn more about the Mermaid Parade\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.coneyisland.com\/mermaidparade\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>RELATED:<\/p>\n<p>\n        Get Insider Updates with Our Newsletter!    <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"All photos by Eliza Rinn, unless noted otherwise The Mermaid Parade returns to the Coney Island boardwalk this&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":268982,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,99,9,24,63],"class_list":["post-268981","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268981","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=268981"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268981\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268982"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268981"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}