A couple of weeks ago there was the Puerto Rican Day parade.  It has a reputation for being, shall we say, exuberant. A few years ago, some behavior at this parade resulted in a ban on the sale of alcohol at street fairs and outdoor events - an unpopular decision for many.

Last week it was the Gay Pride parade (sorry  "Heritage of Pride" - but everybody calls it the Gay Pride parade).  This one gets on the news with outrageous costumes and a lot of fun had by all.

Even more fun is the Mermaid Parade in Coney Island.  People dress in exotic costumes, most having to do with mermaids or water, and "parade" along Surf Avenue and the Boardwalk. Every year we hope to get to it, but this year we finally made it.  Lots of photos at right.

Our friend Tanya (that's here above as a shark, with the winning trophy) was going to be in the parade, which is one of the reasons we went.  But after all that, we missed her - we were looking for a shark posed on the hood of a car, and the police had made her get down and ride inside for part of the route (of course, the part where we were standing to watch). Best laid plans, and all that.

But we got to see the parade, and the preparations, which were really fun.  It was an absolutely perfect day - sunny, but with a cool breeze.  It was a little too sunny, actually - four days later, our respective sunburns haven't yet faded.  About a quarter of a million people show up in Coney Island for the parade, especially this one, which was the 25th anniversary. Since AstroLand, the famous amusement park (home of the Cyclone Rollercoaster) will close this year, there's also the possibility that it will be the last Mermaid Parade.

You know you're in the right place when you see, getting off the subway, a guy wearing a seashell bra and people with pink and purple hair.  Oh, did I mention that a lot of the costumes are topless?  (And I don't mean the men!)

This year, we also considered going to the Halloween Parade in Greenwich Village, but didn't make it.  A couple of million other people did, though, all packed into the narrow winding streets of the Village, which makes me glad I didn't go.  If you want to see what it looked like, here are some other people's photos:

http://photos.halloween-nyc.com/