Defending the Honor of American Popular Culture

Greetings from Coney Island!

For Coney Island USA, 2019 was a year to overcome challenges, and celebrate our success. We began the year facing the overwhelming task of replacing the ceiling in our Freak Bar and Gift Shop - and completed those repairs in time for Opening Day. We partied with sharks and sea-creatures in the NY Aquarium at our annual Spring Gala, and cheered Coney Island royalty Nora and Arlo Guthrie as they led the Mermaid Parade. Puppets, bellydancers, and Schlitzie the Pinhead entertained us, and our all-star cast of sideshow performers were seen at the Metropolitan Opera, on PBS, and at Ripley's in Times Square. The Coney Island Museum made major exhibition upgrades, and oversaw the important restoration of a vintage Tornado roller coaster car. Our annual Fall Gala, Creeptacular, closed out the season in a delightfully dark fashion.

If you came to an event or a show, watched the Mermaid Parade from the Judges' Stand, visited the Coney Island Museum, or became a member of Coney Island USA, I want to express my heart-felt gratitude. Your generous support sustains our operations and funds the performance-arts programming that you've come to love.

Looking ahead to 2020, I'm hopeful that Coney Island USA can continue to expand its mission to defend the honor of American popular culture with exciting new productions (including a rock opera that features a flying jukebox), exceptional performers, and updated exhibits in the Coney Island Museum. Your tax-deductible donation today will help ensure that we can move forward into the future, even as we cherish Coney Island's iconic past.

Best Wishes for A Healthy and Prosperous New Year, and I hope to see you soon in Coney Island!

Dick Zigun
Founder and Artistic Director

Give here: https://coneyisland.networkforgood.com/projects/47670-donation