There were several things I had planned to do my first summer in New York.
Actually, I had a list: PS1, July 4th on a rooftop, Summerstage in
Central
Park,
lots
of outdoor dining at Yabby’s and so on. At the top of that list
was the
Mermaid Day
Parade at Coney Island.
I had been planning it for weeks as it would herald my new, carefree lifestyle
and
look. Some people dress up like mermaids or lobsters for this parade;
I
decided I
would wear pink. Pink is very important to me. But I’ll
save that for
another column
since it’s a very, very long story.
We – Chris from fred flare, my roommate Anne, Jim from Delia’s
and yours truly –
started early that day so we wouldn’t miss any activities. The subway
ride was
an
adventure in itself. Everyone was high energy on this party train to
Coney!
There
was loud music, running, screaming and much more to go around once
we arrived
at the end of the F line, among parade goers and participants.
It was kind of hard to tell the difference, actually. There were lots of
mermaid
beauty queens, colorful schools of fish and sailors from outer space. Some
costumes were elaborate and some were scary. Several homemade floats
began
to line up for the parade as well as lots of antique cars. People
practiced their
baton routines.
It was hot and we had no intention of just standing around for hours waiting
for
the
parade to begin so we made another list – this one of desired
food and
drink for
the day – and started checking it off. Immediately we headed
for the
boardwalk in
search of candied apples with sprinkles, ice cream, corn on
the
cob, mango on a
stick, curly fries, cotton candy, pina coladas, hot dogs
and
beer as big as your
head. Along the boardwalk there were other parade
participants practicing their
acts and getting ready for the show.
We decided that since we weren’t really in the parade we would head
down to
the
beach to meet some other friends, fred flare supermodels Christine
and
Lora. The
beach was not very crowded yet and it was much cooler being by
the water. I was
so excited about the palm tree showers that were planted
on
the waterfront every
so often it seemed crazy to hurry back on the boardwalk
and ruin this tropical
moment. Besides, several in our group had been to
the
parade before and said that
it lasted for hours. We would have plenty of
time
to do everything we wanted to do
and still see the parade.
When the time came to head back to the festivities we still found ourselves
enticed
by the boardwalk delights. The only problem was now our list and
the
lines had
grown very long. Chris and Anne waited for about an hour in the
Nathan’s line for
their giant beers. And, to make matters worse,
I kept adding to
my list. Lora and I
got these cute drinks in giant pink glasses with giant
pink
straws. We had to – they
matched our outfits!
By the time we made it down to the street the parade was wrapping up. It
was
official. We had missed the 20th annual Mermaid Day Parade at Coney Island.
But
I didn’t stress – that’s just not good for my new
image. Instead, we headed
back to
the beach and jumped in the ocean. Silly rabbit, lists are for
kids.
