Mardi Gras at Coney Island
One hundred years ago today … Reports were that 150,000 revelers had come out to Coney Island for the final day of its Mardi Gras season.
The stalwart Bowery Boys site offers a report on this largely forgotten tradition:
The annual Mardi Gras celebration lasted from 1903, the heart of Coney’s heyday, until 1954 — the heart of the Robert Moses years. Curiously, it always took place in mid-September. . . . [T]he parade was timed to coincide with the end of the summer season and the annual shuttering of the amusement parks.
According to the Tribune, the 1920 festival was a success, enabling vendors to recoup losses they had suffered due to the BRT strike (about which see our September 7 post).
The Tribune also informs us that two toddlers were crowned king and queen of the festival. The News, true to its mission, published a photo of the royal recipient in his guise as boxer Jack Dempsy, though the paper’s caption miscalculated the boy’s age.
(Note: See our previous mentions of Coney Island, including its place in 1920 LGBTQ culture and the newly opened Wonder Wheel.)
Not everyone had a good time at the carnival. Mary Byington was allegedly mugged.
WRITTEN BY JONATHAN GOLDMAN, SEPTEMBER 20, 2020.
TAGS: Coney Island, festival, Mardi Gras, Brooklyn, outdoor, party, children