Dolly McDermott and her mother, Patricia McDermott, were heading toward Surf Avenue in Coney Island shortly after noon Saturday. They were trying to get to the registration table for the annual Brooklyn Mermaid Parade, but it was slow: spectators kept asking them to pose for photos.
The girl wore clear-framed sunglasses, peach ruffles, necklaces, bracelets, and a foam seashell anchored to her back. Her mother created a gothic contrast in black and white, with face paint and a full mermaid skeleton running the length of her outfit.
“One more! One more!” a photographer begged them.
“It took us half an hour to walk here,” said the younger Ms. McDermott, an artist and self-described “professional eccentric.” “Only because we are as beautiful as we are,” his mother added.
The two men said they had been walking the Coney Island spectacle of aquatic weirdness for several years and had not been deterred by a citywide heat advisory. The temperature was already 86 degrees and rising as marchers and costumed spectators gathered under a cloudless blue sky.
But the mood was upbeat as DJs on the floats tested their speakers and marching bands got up to speed near the staging area at Surf Avenue and West 21st Street.
On a side street, Elijah Thomas of Harlem stood in the shade of a tree with several of his bandmates from Honk NYC!, a nonprofit organization that promotes brass and percussion street music and regularly participates at the parade.
Mr. Thomas, 24, spoke of the inspiration that the Mermaid Parade, founded in 1983, drew from the culture of Mardi Gras street marches in New Orleans. A regular performer at the Mermaid Parade, Mr Thomas said he had come for the “pageantry, the community music and the parade”.
Nearby on Surf Avenue, Dmitry Brill – better known as DJ Dmitry of the pop group Deee-Lite – performed a soundcheck with his laptop mounted on a small float. The float was adorned with the name of a Berlin band he produces, Nauti Siren, whose members were using their first ride in the parade to release a new single titled, aptly, “Mermaid of the Year.”
Brill, 60, said it was his first official participation in the parade, although he attended it once as a spectator in the late 1980s.
Another first-time walker, Leah King, wore a gold tiara, bikini top and eight-legged octopus skirt in the style of Ursula, the evil queen from Disney’s “The Little Mermaid.” She brandished a gold-tipped trident as she, too, stopped several times to take photos.
“I’m a cosplayer,” Ms. King, 40, said. “I was made for this. The mermaid is my alter ego.
The parade kicked off with this year’s official King Neptune and Mermaid Queen – husband-and-wife New York artists Joe Coleman and Whitney Ward – riding an electric tricycle under a gold-trimmed canopy. Mermaids, ship captains, pirates and people dressed as various forms of marine life followed, followed by musical floats and bands playing techno and pop hits.
The procession rolled east along Surf Avenue, past rows of cheering spectators, past Nathan’s original hot dog shop, and toward its eventual turn onto the boardwalk, and to its final point at the The imposing metal parachute jump, one of Coney Island’s most recognizable landmarks. .
Jenni Bowman, 42, of Brooklyn, watched with friends from behind a barricade, in the shadow of a four-pole party tent.
Ms Bowman said she came to the parade for its offbeat celebration of “ocean mythology”, as well as its artistry. “It’s an artistic parade,” she said. “The people of New York are incredible. It’s a representation of their artistry and love for this community.
Acknowledging the weather, Bowman added: “My friends and I bought a tent to stay in the shade because we want to be hydrated and safe. »
The weather actually improved as the afternoon progressed and light cloud cover helped keep the temperature below 90 degrees.
Gn entert
News Source : www.nytimes.com
