The general manager of the The Coney Island Freak Show proudly informed me that they are employing a full time staff after a 12-years lapse. The resurgence is hard to detect in the 21st annual Tattoo and Motorcycle Festival. The mid-September crowd of some 100 people formed a seamless blur between performer, participant, and spectator. Started in 1986 in what I imagine to be more raucous and...
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The general manager of the The Coney Island Freak Show proudly informed me that they are employing a full time staff after a 12-years lapse. The resurgence is hard to detect in the 21st annual Tattoo and Motorcycle Festival. The mid-September crowd of some 100 people formed a seamless blur between performer, participant, and spectator. Started in 1986 in what I imagine to be more raucous and edgy times, the event today is propelled by inertia and nostalgia. The loose program of side-show performances, motorcycle pageantry, an expertly judged tattoo competition, and iron trophies cast on premise delivers a mellow sense of satisfaction such that no one needed to know who won what or why before making their way home that Sunday evening.
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