A brightly colored boat painted by an international visionary artist in Riverhead recently is set to make a splash in this year’s “Merry Merfolk Parade,” which takes place during next weekend’s 26th Annual Maritime Festival in Greenport.
Last month, Montreal-based, Peruvian-Canadian artist Chris Dyer spent four days in Riverhead, creating the vividly hued boat, and giving talks and a workshop.
His boat will be a highlight of next week’s “Merry Merfolk Parade,” which kicks off at 11 a.m. on Main Street in Greenport, featuring all manner of little mermaids and mermen.
And, for the first time this year, all ages of merfolk are invited, from ages “one to a hundred,” said the creator of the parade Caroline Waloski, also owner of the Sirens’ Song Gallery in the village.
Dyer’s boat is heading to Greenport as part of a plan being developed by Riverhead Community Development director Chris Kempner, who came across Chris Dyer’s Positive Creations Facebook page one day, found inspiration in his deeply spiritual work, and set about to bring him to Riverhead.
Dyer was an East End Arts “artist in residence” in August, creating the brightly spray-painted wooden rowboat.
The boat is a welcome addition to the parade, now in its third year in Greenport, Waloski said, and is being sent to Greenport through the generosity of East End Arts and the Riverhead Business Improvement District.
“Our Mermaid Princess Bethany will ride in the boat, and some little children, who may be too young to walk, will also ride in the boat,” Waloski said, adding that a banner would be created to lead the procession.
Also for the first time this year, the Long Island Aquarium & Exhibition Center will feature its shark tank for the parade. “It’s going to be huge and really be fun,” Waloski said.
After the parade, the merfolk will head over to Scrimshaw for the awards ceremony, where participants can eat, drink, and enjoy and “a more civilized” ceremony than in the past two years, when the awards were given on the stage in Mitchell Park, she said.
The judging and awards ceremony is slated to take place at approximately 1 p.m.
The parade is evolving and growing, Waloski said. This year, mugs and chocolates with the Merry Merfolk Parade logo will be sold to commemorate the event.
Waloski said she was inspired partly by the Mermaid Parade that takes place annually in Coney Island. This year’s parade is limited to 60 people, including men and women and two belly dancers from Brooklyn who attended last year’s Maritime Festival.
“I told them to bring friends,” Waloski said. “We’ll see if the gay community decides to do something with this. I hope they would. I think this could be a great community thing, where everyone can get together on all different levels.”
At last night’s village board work session, some trustees raised concerns when Waloski asked to bring the boat to Mitchell Park today. But Waloski said it was just simple miscommunication; the boat was always meant to arrive next Friday or Saturday, just in time for the Maritime Festival.
The boat, she said, “is just so contemporary, with sea creatures, all in a very modern context, even though it’s historical fantasy.”
It’s the perfect addition to the parade, she said. “This is going to be cool. We welcome watching this event grow every year, in different directions.”
Additional reporting by Denise Civiletti.
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