It looks like the city has scrounged up enough spare change to keep mermaids on Coney Island after all.
The 44th annual Mermaid Parade is expected to go on this summer after its budget got another boost in the tens of thousands of dollars this month.
Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso announced Wednesday that he’s allocating $20,000 from his discretionary fund to Coney Island USA, the nonprofit that organizes the parade, after the group warned earlier this year that mounting costs could force the event to shut down.
“The work that we need to do in Coney Island after COVID is significant,” Reynoso said. “It lost a lot of jobs that were shuttered, the attendance into Luna Park and into Coney Island Beach is not what it used to be.”
Reynoso said he’s interested in putting the Mermaid Parade “under his belt,” which could entail continuing to partially fund the event through his discretionary fund in the coming years.
The latest funding comes after Coney Island USA launched a public fundraising campaign in March, saying it faced an “urgent financial crisis.” Organizers blamed lingering financial fallout from the pandemic, along with costs tied to opposing the proposed Coney Island casino project.
The nonprofit has since raised more than $40,000 through a GoFundMe campaign, according to its fundraising page.
Combined with the latest $20,000 allocation, along with sponsorships and vendor revenue, organizers said they’re now close to meeting their fundraising goal.
The spectacle on Surf Avenue, which organizers have long billed as the nation's largest parade, takes inspiration from traditional Mardi Gras celebrations and sees swaths of attendees transform themselves into merfolk.
The extra funds mean the parade’s organizers can move ahead by covering some of the necessary preparations, like obtaining the proper licenses, bleachers and even screen printing costs.
Altogether, it takes upwards of $120,000 to run the Mermaid Parade, according to Coney Island’s artistic director, Adam Rinn.
“At this point, we’re pretty darn close,” he said. “I don’t know if they’re necessarily there yet, I don’t know if the money is necessarily in the bank at the moment, but we’re confident that we’ll have all of our costs covered by parade day.”
The Mermaid Parade is scheduled for June 20. Participants will march from West 21st Street and Surf Avenue toward West 10th Street before heading onto the Boardwalk and ending at Steeplechase Plaza.
Coney Island USA’s most recent federal tax forms list more than $5.5 million in total assets, most of it tied to the value of the nonprofit’s historic Surf Avenue building, as previously reported by Gothamist.
