RECOMMENDED: Full guide to Coney Island in NY
More than any other single entity you can name, Coney Island USA, founded and led by the venerable Dick Zigun, is responsible for the city's (and the country's) ongoing burlesque and sideshow renaissance. The not-for-profit organization is still working hard to promote that scene, all while giving us joy via the Mermaid Parade, the Coney Island Circus Sideshow, Burlesque at the Beach, the Coney Island Museum, the Coney Island Film Festival and lots more. The gang’s annual fund-raising extravaganza, held at Webster Hall on Saturday, March 15, featured great live music, sideshow freaks, go-go dancers, aerialists, burlesque stars and DJs—not to mention plenty of general carousing. And, of course, mermaids!
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