{"id":813908,"date":"2026-05-22T05:44:37","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T05:44:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/813908\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T05:44:37","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T05:44:37","slug":"mermaid-parade-marches-on-as-reynoso-promises-annual-funding-so-long-as-im-in-office-brooklyn-paper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/813908\/","title":{"rendered":"Mermaid Parade marches on as Reynoso promises annual funding \u2018so long as I\u2019m in office\u2019 \u2022 Brooklyn Paper"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Coney Island USA, the organizer of the Coney Island Mermaid Parade, sounded the alarm in April that one of New York\u2019s most iconic and beloved summer traditions was on the brink of cancellation<\/a> due to an \u201curgent financial crisis,\u201d the community received an overwhelming response from the public, with support pouring in from Brooklyn, New York City, and even internationally.<\/p>\n

After a GoFundMe initiative raised over $42,000, the organization received another financial boost from Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

At a press conference outside Coney Island USA headquarters on May 20 \u2014 a month to the day before the Mermaid Parade \u2014 the Brooklyn Beep made good on his the promise he made in his 2026 State of the Borough Address<\/a> in April, and allocated $20,000 from his discretionary fund to Coney Island USA.<\/p>\n

\"\"Reynoso said he expected this year\u2019s Mermaid Parade to be the grandest and biggest parade ever.Photo by Gabriele Holtermann<\/p>\n

Reynoso, who is also running for Congress in NY-7, said arts institutions and cultural landmarks, have to be preserved. Reynoso also announced that his office would fund the parade with $20,000 every single year as long as he is borough president.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want everyone to know that this is not the end. The funding is helping us save the Mermaid Parade, but we want it to be the grandest and biggest parade it could possibly be. So, we want to keep it coming,\u201d Reynoso said. \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 Parade, so long as I\u2019m in office.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam Rinn, artistic director of Coney Island USA, said the nonprofit had gone through some rough financial \u201cpatches\u201d in the past few years and expressed his gratitude for the public support.<\/p>\n

The campaign to save the parade also garnered the attention of New York Comic Con, which signed up as the parade\u2019s presenting sponsor, and announced that the convention\u2019s 20th anniversary theme this year will be Coney Island<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"adamAdam Rinn said Coney Island USA owed a huge debt of gratitude to the supporters of the Mermaid Parade. Photo by Gabriele Holtermann<\/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. \u201cWe owe a huge debt of gratitude to everyone who has supported us via the GoFundMe, to Comic Con and our other sponsors, but especially to the Borough President for understanding the importance of the Mermaid Parade and supporting it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rinn said Coney Island USA owed a huge debt of gratitude to the supporters of the Mermaid Parade.\n<\/p>\n

Drag Queen Nancy Nogood and Queerly Femmetastic, the reigning Miss Coney Island,, told Brooklyn Paper they were excited to see how many people, including Reynoso, showed their support to ensure that the tradition of creative self-expression continues.<\/p>\n

Nogood has lived in New York City for more than a decade and has been a Coney Island resident for the past five years. To have the Borough President recognize the importance of the parade was \u201cincredible,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Nancy Nogood said the outpouring of support had been incredible. Photo by Gabriele Holtermann<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the first time this city has truly felt home to me, and being a part of the Mermaid Parade is just an extension of that. So, for our own borough president to recognize how important this is, not just to us specifically in Coney, but to the entire city and to the entire borough, and wants to see that live on in perpetuity, it really leaves me speechless,\u201d Nogood said, noting that while she has a vision for her Mermaid Parade costume, she\u2019s still putting on the finishing touches.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cI definitely have some pieces put together. I feel like it\u2019s every year I want to try to outdo myself, just a little bit more. And so, yeah, I\u2019ve got a vision. We\u2019ll see what I can realize,\u201d Nogood said.<\/p>\n

Queerly Femmetastic\u00a0 has attended the parade since she was a kid, and said she was \u201cheartbroken\u201d when she learned that Coney Island USA might not be able to continue the tradition that has delighted generations of New Yorkers.<\/p>\n

\"\"Querly Femmetastic, Miss Coney Island 2026, was relieved that the parade was back on track. Photo by Gabriele Holtermann<\/p>\n

\u201cI was just genuinely excited and relieved when I found out, like, okay, there\u2019s going to be dedicated funding, and we don\u2019t have to scale anything down or make any like massive changes, and the thing that brings so many people joy can continue to happen,\u201d Queerly Femmetastic said, noting that due to the increased media attention she expected a high turnout of parade revelers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m so excited to hear people say, \u2018I was planning on coming to New York that weekend, but now I know that the parade is then, so I\u2019ll plan to come to that too,\u2019\u201d the self-proclaimed cosplay nerd said.<\/p>\n

She attends Comic Con every year and was looking forward to presenting Coney Island at the convention in October.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI go to Comic Con every year, and so knowing that I get to do the two things that I really love, which are cosplay and being Miss Coney Island, I\u2019m super excited,\u201d Queerly Femmetastic said. \u201cI have tons and tons and tons of mermaid costumes and ringmaster costumes and lion cuts, so I have everything at home, so I, for once, am not going to have to do any con crunch. I\u2019m going to show up and be magical and fabulous.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Mermaid Parade<\/a> is scheduled for June 20, rain or shine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Coney Island USA, the organizer of the Coney Island Mermaid Parade, sounded the alarm in April that…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":813909,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5122],"tags":[330527,5229,1121,15847,302062,6292,330528,330529,330530,2879,1258,330531,12735,330532,330533,405,403,50,2295,5226,5225,5228,226169,5227,80,11603,330534,1072,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-813908","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-adam-rinn","tag-america","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-borough-president","tag-brooklyn-borough-president-antonio-reynoso","tag-coney-island","tag-coney-island-mermaid-parade","tag-coney-island-usa","tag-discretionary-funding","tag-events","tag-funding","tag-funding-coney-island-mermaid-parade","tag-fundraising","tag-mermaid-parade","tag-nancy-nogood","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-news","tag-newsletter","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkcity","tag-ny","tag-ny-7","tag-nyc","tag-politics","tag-queer","tag-queerly-femmetastic","tag-things-to-do","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/813908","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=813908"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/813908\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/813909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=813908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=813908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=813908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}