Mermaid-Parade 2005

chopper in the mermaid parade 04.


Mermaid-Parade 2005, originally uploaded by Green Biker.

That's Right! It's time once again for the annual Coney Island Mermaid Parade. This event is what I believe is the best day in New York City, which celebrates all the diversity and creative culture that this overcrowded land mass has to offer. Although this often abandon epicenter of trash culture and working class get-away haven may soon fall victim to the comodification machine, it is still alive and well with they way NYC should be. Yes, dirty, diverse, perhaps dangerous, seedy, offensive and gluttonous. It is a chance to see all the tribes get together regardless of race and prejudice. What better way to welcome summer than with sunshine, scantily clad flesh in nautical themed outfits (or lack there of) cheap beer and bad for you greasy food which you can hurl on the worlds most frightening roller coaster...the cyclone. This is the one day when the Puerto Ricans come together with the gentrifying hipsters from the East Village raising their rents. Where the cops tend to look the other way at your open displays of drunkenness because they are distracted by pasties and girls glitter laden chests. Where Brooklyn Muscle car meatheads and Hell's Angle's bikers hang next to art stars and geeks who thought they would be the only guy dressed as a pirate this year. Where burlesque harlots, and freekshow types get together with other art scenesters and trade in their too-cool-for-school pretentious for Nathan's hotdogs and toast a warm Budweiser. Coney Island's mermaid parade has to offer a glimpse into the rare celebration of the human spirit that is so uniquely American and yet so often replaced with a corporate culture of private space and a dictation of how one must pay and obey. The mermaid parade is funny, cheesy and a great way to welcome summer. A spontaneous setting for active participation instead of just watching. So, get your 5.00 pirate hat from the Halloween Adventure shop and come on down to Coney Island. This Saturday. June 25th

Also on Saturday are a couple of other cool BIKE events.

Trackstar NYC, Ink City and FortyNineSixteen presents the 7th annual Skids and Sprints messenger races, just in time for the 13th Annual Messenger World Championships.

There will be skids competitions for distance, trackstands and other events.

Meet after the parade at the cyclone for the location.

Also is Black Label and Chunk 666

Brooklyn Bike Brawl

A hundred wheels of death-The Brooklyn Bike Brawl
Saturday June 25th, 2005

On the weekend before the final world championship race, bicycle gangs from all across America will converge on neutral turf in the neighborhood of Red Hook Brooklyn. There, is front of the cranes and shipping yards, on one of the last true pieces of nyc waterfront, they will begin to trash their homeade frankenstein bikes in a free day of bike game blitz!

Free Beer provided by Brooklyn Brewery.