What a beautiful day yesterday was! The sun was shining brilliantly and the mermaids, mermen, sailors, fish, anemone, octopi, and bubbles were out in force. Seriously I must have been double the people that were there last year!
I did my make up, wig and got dressed at home then walked to Queens Blvd to catch a cab. During my short walk I attracted much attention. A person even hung out their car window and yelled "I hope you win!", which made me feel pretty good.
After a longer than I would've liked cab ride due to traffic (Thank god for air conditioning) I arrived in Chinatown at the apartment of Melissa and Jonathan who graciously offered their place and their bagels for pre mermaid prep and drinks. There were some familiar Burning Man people there, Isa, Anastasia, Laura, but also some new people to meet. I learned some new costuming tricks too. I'm definitely buying a can of gold spray glitter. Always apply while standing in the shower. So, lots of body jewels and glitter later we were ready to hit the Q train. It was a cramped ride down the whole way. Finally we reached the Coney Island stop and cheered as we made a mass exodus down the ramp to Ocean Ave.
The parade was already underway and for a minute I was a little panicked that Kostume Kult had marched on with out us. We walked to the staging area on 21st street and saw Costume Jim dressed as a Pirate Toucan Sam. He looked amazing and the best part was the bottom part of his bill moved when he talked. He had build it onto a mouth guard that went over his bottom teeth. SO GREAT! The Kostume Kult had not left yet and we joined the general melee in the staging area which is the best place to get up close pictures and enjoy everyones creativity. 
My friend Kristine found us too. Her Victorian Mermaid costume came out very well and we looked great together especially since we picked the same blue colored fabric. Kristine was with me the first year I did Mermaid Parade! The parade finally started moving right along and Kostume Kult was on its way. I recognized a few people from the meet ups and a few more from other events like ZombieCon. The parade route was packed. I seriously think the hot weather and new Luna Park or something caused record breaking numbers! We danced, posed and strutted our way down Ocean Avenue past the judges (where we waited for a while due to a bit of a pile up of parade marchers), then on to the board walk for more pictures and general pandemonium. I wish I had asked more people to take my email for their pictures. I had a TON of them taken and I'd love to see some of the professionals shots. So if you run across my blog and you know you took a photo to me, email me please!!
Photo Credit: Mari Lowery
Photo Credit: Pixielated PIxels
How does it feel finding that ur photo is on the list of 48 Things You'll Only Seen In New York? People would stare like a crazy as hell in my country. I even wonder why u took public transport with all of those stuff, wearing that costume.
ReplyDeleteI've rode the subway in costume so many times I hardly notice people taking my picture any more. If they would ask I'd gladly pose for them and they could get a better one. lol I'm proud to be part of the Odd Sights of NYC!
ReplyDelete