Greetings from the Mermaid Parade!

By JASON HARPER

Folks in all manner of mermaid costume — except the kind that would require the bundling of legs into a fishtail (you can’t march with a fishtail for legs) — gathered at 18th and Wyandotte outside YJ’s Snack Bar yesterday to celebrate the sand, the sea, seagulls, crustaceans, starfish and other things you’ll find only a long, long way off from Kansas City.

Click the photo below for a slideshow.

The Mt. Righteous Marching Band from Grapevine, Texas, played a few songs before the parade, raising a cheerful, poppy-folk-brass ruckus that sounded like something Sufjan Stevens might kick field goals to. Then, urged on by Brick owner and parade organizer Sheri Parr, Mt. Righteous led the fishy revelers down the street to the Brick. Inside the parade’s destination the bizarre permutation of the already bizarre Snuff Jazz known as Wee Snuff riffed on Sun Ra, Rahsaan Roland Kirk and summer camp with half the band inside a giant tent on stage and mermaid and crab women hanging out by a trippy campfire. Mt. Righteous finished off the fabulously weird night.