This is Weeki Wachee Springs.
Located about 40 miles north of Tampa, this spring discharges upwards of 100 million gallons
of freshwater every single day.
That water travels a little over seven miles down the snaking Weeki Wachee river before
emptying out into the Gulf of Mexico.
It is just one of over 700 springs located in the state of Florida, yet this one is special
because you see, Weeki Wachee Springs is home to mermaids.
Up until 1946, the spring served as a backup water supply for nearby Tampa and St. Petersburg,
but that changed when a group of four businessmen set their sights on Weeki Wachee.
W.D Snyder and Walton Hall Smith of Kansas City, both ex-Navy commanders, Hal Messenger
of Los Angeles, and Robert Hilman of NYC, an advertising executive, all went in together
on purchasing a 25-year lease for the spring with the intent of developing it into a roadside
attraction.
There were plenty of other springs in the state, but Weeki Wachee was particularly stunning.
The water was crystal clear, teeming with life, and regardless of the season, a consistent
72 to 74 degrees.
On the colder end, sure, but still swimmable.
Beyond that it extended down over 400 feet.
This combination of qualities is what lead to it being advertised as an underwater mountain,
and it's what made the spring particularly alluring to these four men looking to start
a business.
To develop the attraction they turned to a man by the name of Newton Perry.
Perry had grown up in Florida and from a young age was an avid swimmer.
He spent his days as a child swimming in springs just like Weeki Wachee, and it led to a high
school and college career in competitive swimming while teaching lessons on the side for money.
In 1939 that love of swimming turned out useful when he was hired as a consultant and stuntman
for MGM’s latest film, Tarzan Finds a Son!
His penchant for diving, especially, made him a useful trainer when it came to underwater
scenes.
In 1941 he would do the same, this time with Tarzan’s Secret Treasure.
Perry was a diving natural and no stranger to Floridian springs, so he had big plans
for Weeki Wachee.
Announced in the summer of 1947 and planned to open that fall, the project was originally
estimated at $100,000, with an additional $500,000 investment shortly after.
Weeki Wachee was originally designed to offer a jungle cruise boat ride down the river,
as well a zoo area that would contain an alligator display, snake pits, sea turtles, hippos and
manatees.
It would also offer a white sand beach for guests, and a picnic and playground areas
for families.
The real highlight of Weeki Wachee Springs, however, was the underwater theater.
Originally pitched as an underwater lounge, the 18-person theater was built into the ground
on the edge of the spring and featured quartz windows that looked directly into the water.
This would give guests the ability to watch the wildlife under the water and take photos.
The theater would also be where guests would watch what they called at the time “underwater
ballets and pageants”.
Perry wanted to go one step further beyond the already popular display of synchronized
swimming, and he wanted to do it by staging the numbers under the water.
With the amusement being built for a fall opening, the stars would then align, and in
the process it presented Weeki Wachee with an opportunity that would help launch the attraction.
See, that same year Universal was in the process of adapting the 1945 novel, Peabody’s Mermaid,
into a film.
The movie, titled Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid, would star William Powell and Ann Blyth.
The story followed Arthur Peabody, played by Powell as he discovers a real life mermaid,
played by Blyth, while on vacation in the Caribbean.
The concept obviously called for underwater mermaid sequences, and so Universal found
themselves looking for a good location that was photogenic, large enough for a set, and
allowed for filming underwater.
Not to mention it had to align with their shooting schedule, which was in December.
While looking they kept running past Newt Perry’s name, who by that point was a known
figure thanks to the Tarzan films.
They reached out to him for help and, well, whaddya know.
He was just in the middle of building an underwater theater at a photogenic large natural spring
that had consistently warm enough water to swim in.
It was a perfect match.
So Universal got to work at building a 56’ by 36’ stage that would eventually get trucked
across the country to Florida and submerged into the spring.
In an effort to really lean into the novelty of the situation, when the film was finished
the next year, Universal held their premiere at Weeki Wachee Springs, and the Springs held
a “Florida’s Mermaid Queen” contest during the event.
The winner would receive a week-long all expense paid vacation to… well, Weeki Wachee Springs.
They even promoted the event by setting up a big water tank outside a courthouse in Tampa
where some of the mermaids put on smaller shows throughout the day for onlookers.
With a nice publicity boost at launch, Weeki Wachee Springs spent the following decade
picking up steam as a popular roadside attraction.
People enjoyed these mermaid shows in which performers would do everything from small
dances, to staging everyday activities under the water like eating food or drinking soda.
The mermaids would use an air hose, designed by Perry himself, in order to remain underwater
for the entire show without ever having to surface.
It’s also worth noting that while they were called mermaids and marketed as such, they
weren’t yet donning the iconic mermaid tails that we think of when we hear the word.
But as much as the attraction grew in the 1950’s, it’s real golden era would arrive
in the 1960’s.
Singers: Weeki Wachee is the place to be.
Weeki Wachee is the place to be.
At Weeki Wachee if you think you see mermaids (Weeki Wachee), floating in the waters of blue.
Don’t rub your eyes in surprise that you see mermaids.
Because at Weeki Wachee you do.
In 1959 the Weeki Wachee Springs was purchased by Florida State Theaters, a local company
that owned a number of movie theaters in the region.
That company, itself, was owned by American Broadcasting-Paramount Theaters Inc, a company
that would eventually go by the name of ABC Television.
With the increased financial backing of an owner like ABC, the underwater theater, which
had expanded over the years from 18 seats to 100, was expanded once more to hold 500 guests.
The upgrade, priced at a million dollars, also included the largest installation of
underwater speakers in the country at the time.
It allowed the mermaids performing to hear musical cues in their shows.
That, in-turn, allowed them to put on increasingly complex shows.
Some of them, like Mermaids on the Moon, were original productions while others were adaptations
of popular stories, such as Peter Pan, Snow White, Alice in Wonderland, and The Wizard of Oz.
At their peak, the Weeki Wachee mermaids were performing between eight and nine underwater
shows a day to a reported half a million visitors every year.
It was during the ‘60s that the mermaids began to wear the iconic tails that they still
sport today, and the competition to become a mermaid grew.
New mermaids had to undergo up to six weeks of training before they’d be able to appear
in shows.
That included everything from learning how to move, pose, and perform seemingly simple
tasks with the right look, to airlock safety tests and deep water diving training.
It's also when the mermaids finally started to get paid for their work.
Up until the ownership by ABC, the mermaids had been working for food and free bathing suits.
The attraction was also growing enough in popularity to host special events.
In 1964 it was picked as a premiere location for the Warner Brothers film, The Incredible
Mr. Limpet.
Weeki Wachee spent around $16,000, or $133,000 today, on the projection equipment needed
to host the premiere.
It wasn’t cheap, but they gladly picked up the tab because the event resulted in writers
from across the country attending who, along with the film, wrote about the springs and
the mermaid shows.
Towards the end of the decade, however, things began to change, and Weeki Wachee Springs
began to meet a fate that was all too common among roadside attractions in America.
Up until that point they thrived off of the convenient placement of US-19.
The springs were a natural pitstop for anyone driving to or from the Tampa area.
But with the completion of I-75 twenty miles to the east, Weeki Wachee went from an amusement
right off the side of the road to a detour over a half an hour away.
It may not sound like much, but it was enough to impact the number of people visiting.
In 1971 Walt Disney World opened to the public, and was a bit of a game changer.
On the one hand, the allure of a Disney theme park introduced a competitor to Floridian
roadside attractions that couldn’t be beat.
It was an east coast Disneyland, after all.
On the other hand, the opening of Disney began to turn central Florida into a tourism hotspot,
and it brought more visitors into the state than ever before.
Being under a two hour drive away from the Magic Kingdom, Weeki Wachee was among the
many attractions that could easily be tacked onto a family vacation to Florida.
Then, in 1982, that changed.
Card Walker: EPCOT Center represents the culmination of more than 25 million hours of effort by
talented artists, designers, engineers, and technicians.
With the opening of EPCOT Center, Disney’s role as a tourism leader in Florida began
to change.
Slowly Disney World went from one stop out of many during a family vacation in Florida
to being, well, the Florida vacation.
It would only amplify towards the end of the 80's and 90’s as not only more Disney parks
opened, but more theme parks in Orlando opened to compete with Disney.
Before long these roadside attractions went from being the highlights of a family vacation
to being sleepy and often-forgotten novelties.
During those years, the ownership of Weeki Wachee Springs changed hands multiple times,
and at points those running the attraction tried to get creative to keep it afloat.
In 2004 the park managers were able to shop the amusement around to reality shows, and
as a result it was featured on an episode of the Paris Hilton/Nicole Ritchie show, The
Simple Life.
When times were tough, the community of mermaid performers and locals often helped each other.
In 2004 the mermaids also formed a campaign called “Save Our Tails”, and people like
the Weeki Wachee mayor donated their salary to the campaign to help support the mermaids.
Then, in 2008, ownership of the springs reverted to the town of Weeki Wachee, who in-turn donated
the springs to the state of Florida.
It was at that point that Weeki Wachee Springs became Weeki Wachee Springs State Park.
Overnight the mermaids became government employed mermaids, and the attraction received the
backing needed to keep going.
These days Weeki Wachee Springs is still around, and the famous mermaid shows from the late
1940’s are still its main attraction.
The role of mermaid is as challenging as ever, and it takes new mermaids four months of training
before they’re ready to perform for the public.
In an interesting way, the attraction’s dedication to this classic staple of a show
is what keeps it on the map.
Without it, it’s just another one of the countless state springs that locals and tourists
alike can visit to swim in.
Had they tried to chase a new fad or emulate a competitor, they might have just failed
and faded into obscurity.
But by sticking to this unique idea through the good times and the bad, they swam out
on the other end with a tradition that is now nearly 75 years old and a historic part
of central Florida.