The 31st Annual Coney Island Mermaid Parade will kick off at 1 PM on Saturday with more nipple tassels, body paint, and elaborate mermaid tails than ever.
This year's parade was in jeopardy after damage costs from Superstorm Sandy left organizers scrambling for parade funds, but a successful Kickstarter campaign raised $115,000 for the show to go on.
The ocean-themed celebration is the largest art parade in the world, with thousands of participants flocking to Brooklyn each year to march through the streets in their finest and most scandalous Mermaid attire. This year parade organizers expect more than 750,000 spectators — record numbers — to line the parade route.
Rock musician David Byrne leads the 1998 Mermaid Parade as "King Neptune." Each year parade organizers choose a King Neptune and Queen Mermaid to lead the march.
A glittering mermaid bride makes her way down the Coney Island boardwalk at the 2000 parade.
A rainbow mermaid wearing a crown is pushed down the boardwalk in some sort of crustacean chariot in 2002.
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