Fundraising Effort Saves Mermaid Parade

Coney Island, NY - Not even Hurricane Sandy could halt the annual Mermaid Parade! After a fundraising effort, hundreds of thousands of people came out to take part in the first post-superstorm Mermaid Parade along the boardwalk and Surf Ave. in Coney Island, Brooklyn. Revelers put on their mermaid best for the 31st annual nautical-themed event. It almost didn’t happen. "It looks like it is a an easy to do parade that a bunch of artists walk down the street, but managing the huge crowds so that the New York public is safe and not crushed to death costs $190,000," said Dick Zigun, the parade's founder "Our headquarters of Coney Island USA, the parent that runs the mermaid parade, was under five feet of water six months ago. Our operation was shut down." Faced with canceling the parade because of financial difficulty, organizers launched a Kickstarter campaign as a last-ditch effort. Their fundraising efforts generated more than $117,000 from the crowd-funding site. "The people themselves were the fundraiser for the parade," Zigun said. "We thank everybody who contributed."  www.fundraising-ideas.org