The ocean came to life on the streets of Coney Island for the annual Mermaid Parade. Erin Clarke brings us the sights and sounds.
Some call it the best day of the year.
"It's festive," said one paradegoer. "It's always happy. It's always a good time."
"This is so creative," said another. "Really you can't beat it"
Coney Island's Mermaid Parade is quite the spectacle. It features people of all ages marching along Surf Avenue dressed as just about every sea creature you can imagine — both real and fictional.
"You can be a pirate, you don't have to be a mermaid," said another paradegoer. "You can be anything you want and just have some fun."
The parade is the brainchild of local artist Dick Zigun, known as Coney Island's unofficial mayor.
"It's about the art," Zigun said. "It's about the glitter. It's about the body paint."
Zigun first launched the event 34 years ago to give the area a boost and teach local kids about mythology.
After all, Coney Island's streets do have names like Mermaid and Neptune.
Back then, there were just 300 marchers for a crowd of about a 1,000 people.
Now organizers say there are hundreds of thousands of spectators and three thousand parade participants — making it the largest arts parade in the country.
And you don't have to be marching in the parade like these guys to dress up and be part of all the fun.
Many of the people lining Surf Avenue to watch were also decked out in elaborate costumes.
"This is our first year at the parade," said one. "We've never done this before but we've made costumes for many years and we thought 'What are we doing? We live in New York. Let's go to the Mermaid Parade.'"
"You should just come out, dress up," said another festively dressed paradegoer.
The Mermaid Parade is an overall fun day of self-expression at its best.