First-Ever Mermaid Festival Makes a Splash at Kingsland Point Park

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Brazilian Drummers lead the Mermaid parade

July 22, 2024

By Sue Treiman–

Mermaids, pirates, giant fish, even the Headless Horsemen came out to play at Sleepy Hollow’s inaugural Mermaid Festival Saturday.

The afternoon-long event at Kingsland Point Park served a dual purpose. The fair was among a year-long slate of activities marking Sleepy Hollow’s 150^th anniversary and it also served as a powerful reminder of the untapped recreational potential Sleepy Hollow’s beachfront, now shuttered, represents for the village.

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Both messages reached more than 2,000 people who took advantage of breezy summer weather to watch parades, take in art exhibits, chow on food truck edibles, and learn about the Hudson.

Sleepy Hollow & swimming

The festival idea was initially floated by a group of local mothers who, after comparing notes on children’s activities, realized their youngsters had no in-town options for water fun and education during the increasingly blistering summers.

“We have no affordable place to swim here in Sleepy Hollow, and yet we also have this historic beach that’s closed to the public,” said Megan Isenstadt, a founding member of The Sleepy Hollow Project. The production company, forged to promote local causes, launched the fete in partnership with the village, the Riverkeeper, and Rivertowns SUP & Yoga.

Spectators and participants enjoyed a lavish Mermaid Parade featuring children and adults in sparkly water-themed attire. The march was led by the all-female Brazilian drumline group, FOGO Azul, and showcased an array of puppets, including figures crafted from river debris by artist Greg Corbino, as well as eight-foot-tall walking figures created by Processional Arts—and punctuated with giant handmade sea creatures. The procession included an off-season cameo appearance by Sleepy Hollow’s ubiquitous Headless Horseman.

River parade

Parallelling the paraders on land were costume-bedecked paddleboarders who took the water with assistance from Kayak Hudson along with Tara Scheller of Rivertowns SUP & Yoga Rivertowns Yoga. Lifeguards provided by the Shames Jewish Community Center on the Hudson of Tarrytown, one of the event sponsors, patrolled the shore.

Rounding out the day was a ‘real’ mermaid, Ali Luminescent, as well as musical performances, speeches, art exhibits, vendor booths, and abundant children’s crafts. Educational activities offered by the Riverkeeper reminded festival goers of the event’s purpose.

Where there’s a mermaid, there’s a Neptune

“Our hope was to raise awareness of the viability of the river, the water quality, and the work we do to keep the river clean,” said Lisa Weisbrod. Riverkeeper Membership Manager.

The environmental organization was among the first to sign on when the Sleepy Hollow Project ‘founding mothers—Izenberg, Gina Carey, and Faye Serafica—suggested that the group’s maiden voyage could be Mermaid Festival modeled after the famous Coney Island annual event. The three women, respectively a television producer, a digital media professional, and an event planner, found a hole on the village’s year-long slate of sesquicentennial activities in July, traditionally a slow time, and won support from Sleepy Hollow mayor Martin Rutyna.

Sleepy Hollow Project member Megan Isenstadt

Year-round appeal

“We want people to know that there’s more to do in this beautiful village in the months that are not October,” says Rutyna.

The beachfront area of the 18-acre park opened to the public in 1924 and was eventually named one of the top swimming spots along the Hudson. By the 1970s, though, pollution from nearby industry rendered the waters unsafe and the beach was deemed off-limits to the public. Decades of remediation by the Riverkeeper and other organizations gradually restored much of the Hudson River’s cleanliness on most days but the beach remains off-limits today.

“We want to change that narrative and celebrate the tremendous amount of work that’s been done to restore the river’s health.,” said Isenstadt.

And they’re off! Mermaids underway off Kingsland Point beach

River pool

Among the proposals being considered is the creation of a ‘river pool’, a floating structure with an enclosed pool deck that could serve as an outdoor swimming pool for Sleepy Hollow, which lacks its own site.

The future of the Mermaid Festival is still to be determined, but founders hope to establish the summer base as an annual event—one that could, ideally, spark similar celebrations in neighboring Rivertowns, “One of our hopes is to connect all towns,” says Isenstadt, “since we are all really just neighbors in the same area.”

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