industry of villains

Save the Coney Island Mermaid from Extinction!

The nation’s largest art parade may have been flooded, but it’s not washed away!

As they say, Don’t be shellfish! Save a Mermaid!

The Mermaid Parade is pretty much what makes Brooklyn summers Brooklyn summers. It costs a lot of money to put on, and that budget gets higher every year. On top of that, Coney Island was one of the areas hit hardest by Sandy in October, and the costs of recovery from the storm have completely blown the budget of the non-profit organisation that has been putting on the Mermaid Parade for the last 30 years.

Long story short, unless they can raise $100,000 by 3 June, the parade is off.

There are a lot of us who don’t want that to happen, but we may not be able to make this happen by ourselves.

Last year’s Mermaid Parade was my first one, and it was pretty much the best day of my life. There is nothing like dressing up as drag queen Captain America and dancing your ass off in front of 750,000 people. Making it through the parade and riding that dance high for the next three days was really the turning point when I knew that I did the right thing when I moved to NYC, when I knew that I’d really finally found home.

This is something that’s really close to my heart. If I had $100,000, I would throw it all at this Kickstarter.

Three-quarters of a million people came out to the parade last year. That doesn’t include staff, security, or those of us who marched in the parade. If each of us gave only $1, we would make up this year’s budget shortfall more than 7 times over.

If we each give even a little, we can make this happen. Let’s blow this Kickstarter campaign out of the water and make Mermaid Parade 2013 the best one ever!

Plus, if you donate $40 or more, part of your reward is SEASHELL PASTIES.