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).
New York Tribune, 20 September 1920, p. 11. Chronicling America.
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.
Daily News, 20 September 1920, p. 20. Chronicling America.
(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.
Daily News, 25 September 1920, p. 3. Chronicling America.
WRITTEN BY JONATHAN GOLDMAN, SEPTEMBER 20, 2020.
TAGS: Coney Island, festival, Mardi Gras, Brooklyn, outdoor, party, children