Recently a unique group of mermaids (pictured above from left to right): Lydia Dodson 69’-72’, Bev Sutton 69’-72’, Lynn Columbo 73’-86’, Susie Pennoyer 71’-73’, Marianne Bennett 69’-75’, Vicki Smith 57’-61’, Rita King 63’-68’ (not pictured) showed their grace and skill at the Weeki Wachee Mermaids’ Legendary Sirens performance. How did these ladies get the chance to be a part of Weeki Wachee’s greatest show? A common thread of the mermaids’ various stories is that they each had wanted to be a mermaid since girlhood.
“My Mother saw an ad in the newspaper for mermaids and she said… You’re bored, go try out. They hired me while I was sixteen and by my seventeenth birthday was my first day of work. Now some thirty years later, I saw an article in the newspaper and I told my daughter they are looking for mermaids and to go try out,” Lydia Dodson explained.
As the curtain opens, the air bubbles scattered to the surface and you wait in anticipation to see these ladies perform in front of you. As you are watching the graceful ballet style acrobatics, flowing freely in the clear fresh spring water, many of the young and young-hearted ladies wish to join them in this magical moment. “We hear this all the time, I want to do that when I grow up… it’s always nice for us to know that we inspire young and old alike,” Susie Pennoyer said.
When you see how graceful these ladies perform you imagine how hard it is to stay under for that length of time as well as learning to breathe through air hoses. “Each one of us had their own trainer; we have to re-adjust everything that we did when we were younger,” Susie Pennoyer said.
Understand breathing techniques as well as water pressure and handling the five mile an hour current is part of the mermaid’s training. The part where the mermaids eat a banana and drink a soda underwater has been a tradition since the late 1940’s.
However, the memorable themed scenes are from the late 1950’s to the 1970’s. When Weeki Wachee Springs was owned by America Broadcast Company beginning in 1959, they started to incorporate elaborate props, lifts and music. ABC also constructed the current underwater theater which seats 500.
The themed shows changed every year and they included Mermaid on the Moon in 1969, Cinderella in 1970, and Peter Pan in 1972. Here’s a hidden gem for you Vintage Weeki Wachee Mermaid fans: Alice in Wonderland in 1964, (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUZYUN6CdIs)
“We had some really neat things…Some of my favorite shows; we had a violin and did a beautiful routine with it. There is none of those left. We have to build back up and that’s why we are doing all the things we can now, so it will be like it was before,” Rita King said.
As the curtains fall and the ladies wave and blow kisses goodbye, they each hold a memory of looking through the glass to see all those fans sitting in the seats before them. When they hear the audience applause that makes every performance embed a new spark of magic within their hearts.
“Being in the spring actually performing the show, it’s like a different world. You feel so differently when you are in the springs. A peaceful [serenity, it makes] you feel young and beautiful forever,” Rita King said.
The Legendary Sirens have been performing once a week, every month since 2001 and still today they can bring your imagination to fullest vision. For me personally when the curtain closed on July 4, 2015 it was a sad moment but a wondrous feeling to true inspiration.
So you want to be a mermaid… your wish can come true! Weeki Wachee Springs State Park offers mermaid camps for all ages. To find out more information about the camp visit their website at WeekiWachee.com and check out the camps link.
