Organizers of Coney Island’s Mermaid Parade told The Post yesterday that the freakfest won’t be sunk this year after all.
The march is all set for June 22, thanks to 1,930 devotees who shelled out more than $86,000 to keep it afloat through an online fund-raising campaign.
“The fans of the Mermaid Parade came to the rescue,” said Dick Zigun, founder of Coney Island USA, which runs the three-decade-old event.
“I’m touched and feeling the love,” he added. “We were serious about taking a year off, but now we don’t have to.”
The organization was all set to cancel the festivities after its Surf Avenue headquarters suffered $540,000 in damage from Hurricane Sandy last fall.
Zigun launched an online fund-raising campaign May 6 on Kickstarter.com to save this year’s parade and said he expects to meet the $100,000 goal by the end of the month.
The funds raised will go toward security, portable toilets and other operating expenses.
Musician Amanda Palmer is also hosting a show tonight at Bowery Ballroom in Lower Manhattan to raise money for the parade.
Any additional funds raised over $100,000 will go towards next year’s parade.
Created by Zigun in 1983, the Mermaid Parade is known for attracting participants dressed as mermaids, mermen and other scantily clad sea creatures.
It pays tribute to the start of summer and old-school Coney Island Mardi Gras parades of the early 20th century. The parade runs along Surf Avenue and the boardwalk, and it will end this year at the new Steeplechase Plaza that opened yesterday.
Regarding Coney Island USA, the group since Sandy has re-opened its bar and sideshow area on the ground floor, but the second-floor museum area is still under construction and won’t be ready until the fall, Zigun said.