The Mermaid Parade

©2007 by LeeZard
 NOTE: Coney Island's Mermaid Parade began in the 1980s when Brooklyn's storied amusement park had devolved to a sorry skeleton of itself. Today the parade is a huge celebration of the summer solstice and a major Brooklyn event. For me, the Mermaid parade is a roller coaster ride back to my youth.

For more on the parade history: http://www.helium.com/items/1870244-history-of-the-coney-island-mermaid-parade.



I went with my brother,
To the Mermaid Parade.
Oh, what a parade it was.

There was Ethel Mermaid,
And Kool-Aid Mermaid,
A bearded mermaid,
And bearded mermen.
There were mermaid kids,
And mermaid maids,
Mermaid dudes,
And mermaid nudes.
So many mermaids,
To stir the mermories,
At crazy crowded Coney Island.





It was a searing Saturday in June,
A steamy New York City Scorcher.
A perfect day, a perfect way,
To open the Coney Island season.

It was hot,
So sweatifyingly, humidifyingly hot,
That riding the “F” train from Manhattan,
Was an air-conditioned relief
From the sweltering sidewalks
And the steambath subway station.

The long ride from midtown
Was a time warp to our Brooklyn roots,
To the days when the Parachute Jump still jumped
And the Bobsled was the fastest coaster in the world.

Now, the jump is an abandoned hulk,
A towering, parachute-less relic
Silently standing guard,
Not far from the burned out skeleton
Of the sled that bobs no more. 

But, the throngs still throng
To the sandy white Coney Island beaches.
And, oblivious to history and mermory,
The mermaids ride, march, swish,
Float, wiggle and jiggle down Surf Avenue.






Surf Avenue, a block from the beach,
A lifetime from reality,
That storied Coney Island main street,
With side shows on the side streets,
Nathan’s Famous Hot Dogs,
And the bumper cars still bumping.










Yes, it has that enjoyable,
Sleazy Coney Island feeling but,
This Coney Island will never be
The same as my Coney Island.



It seemed, when we were kids,
Coney had rides found nowhere else.
There was Steeplechase Park,
An indoor/outdoor mishmash,
With huge slides
And spinning metal discs
Daring you to walk
Across the beaten wooden floor.



The main attraction at Steeplechase,
The scariest attraction at Steeplechase,
Was the Steeplechase race itself.
Six steel horses on wheels,
Each horse on its own rail track,
Running wild ‘round the hippodrome roof.
They could have been merry-go-round ponies,
Except, once you were strapped on,
Off you went in the steeplechase race.


Faster, faster, faster,
The younger you were
The faster it seemed,
And you held on for dear life,
With a leather belt around your waist,
Securing you to your mount.
One thin, leather belt,
Between you and certain death.
God, how we loved it!

The horse on the inside track
Almost always won,
But, who cared.
We lived through the ride,
And scrambled back for more.





Today,
Coney Island is a bumper car
Full of memories,
And the Mermaid Parade.
Oh, what a parade it was.