It’s time again to make that annual pilgrimage to Coney Island to unleash your inner sea creature. Now in its 33rd year, the Mermaid Parade washes ashore on Saturday, June 20. Over 3,000 people from near and far are expected to take part in the spectacle, which celebrates Coney’s oceanic mythology. Parade participants really go all out and aren’t afraid to show a lot of skin.

This year’s Queen Mermaid and King Neptune are Coney Island regulars and real-life husband and wife Mat Fraser and Julie Atlas Muz. You may know Fraser from American Horror Story: Freak Show, and Muz is big in the burlesque scene.

If you plan on spectating (with 800,000 others), the festivities get underway at 1pm at West 21st Street and Surf Avenue and go until the last marchers and floats have reached Steeplechase Plaza (see parade route here). Among all the madness, be on the lookout for famed brass, percussion, and performance ensemble the Hungry March Band, Kostume Kult and NY Dangerous & Friends’ astrologically inspired Capricornicopia, and The Institute for Aesthetic Modulation’s genital-laden Phyllis Diller and the Playthings of her Echinodermic Lust.

Revelers who build up an appetite have options other than Nathans this year. Thanks to the Brooklyn Flea there is now a Coney Smorgasburg that features a dozen vendors, two bars and art walls curated by Jeffrey Deitch.

Sadly, this year the Mermaid Ball, the official after-party of the parade, will not be taking place because a suitable venue wasn’t available. However, there are options if you want to keep the mermaid-themed party going after the parade ends. Gemini & Scorpio, who specialize in immersive party experiences, are throwing another one of their Sea Creature Stomps, JunXion is hosting an afterparty at X Marks the Lot, and Pop Psychic and FIENDS 4EVR are holding an Electro after-party at The Flat with performances by Frank Jones and CULTTASTIC, burlesque, DJs and more.

(Photo above is of David Johansen & Karmen Guy at the Mermaid Parade in 2004)