Arts & Festivals: Sacramento Mermaid Weekend

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38. Strap on your seashell bra

In the last six years, the annual Mermaid Promenade has evolved from a casual afternoon stroll to a whale-sized weekend of activities, held this year from Thursday, June 2, through Sunday, June 5. The centerpiece of the event is still the promenade itself, led this year by Grand Marshal Mermaid Kariel. Pirates, sea life and all kinds of nautical cosplayers will join the mermaids for an aquatic parade through the riverside streets of Old Sacramento from noon to 4 p.m. on Sunday, June 5. The afterparty at Dive Bar and Pizza Rock will include a special outdoor tank on K Street, so anyone too young for the bar can still visit with the mermaids.

Mermaids and mermen will also march in the Sacramento Pride Parade down N Street at 11 a.m. on Saturday, June 4. It’s a lot of walking for creatures without legs, but they are dedicated.

Mermaid Weekend is about more than strolling around on fins and flashing one’s scales in the sun, though. Eco-conscious mermaids and mermen will clean riverside beaches with the American River Parkway Foundation on Thursday, June 2.

Merchildren are invited to a free family pool party at the Hyatt Regency at noon on Friday, June 3, to swim with the Sacramento Mermaids and the Dive Bar Mermaids. (Children must be accompanied by an adult. To register for the party, email sacramento
mermaidweekend@gmail.com.) Adults can join the party at the Hyatt after 4 p.m. that evening for poolside cocktails.

There’s much more on the agenda, at venues throughout the grid: a live performance by Merman Jax and the Dive Bar Mermen, an underwater revue from The Mermaid Atlantis, dancing at Faces and an evening of short films. See the complete schedule online, assuming you can get Wi-Fi under the sea. www.facebook.com/
SacramentoMermaidWeekend. B.C.

Read on to see our picks for the best Arts & Festivals in the Sacramento area this summer.