Across the room at Merpalooza, a gathering of mermaid and mermen enthusiasts going on in Orlando this weekend, more of the mythical beasts posed for pictures, fans eyed mermaid art and vendors sold custom-made tails with $1,500 price tags.
"I don't have a tail, but I would really, really like one," said Sloane Shaffer, a 24-year-old Orlando woman who attended the convention Saturday. "I don't think it's in my budget right now."
Shaffer said she's loved mermaids ever since wearing out two VHS copies of "The Little Mermaid."
The two-day event, which includes a pool party and mermaid pageant, is one of the few conventions in the country that celebrate the half-human, half-fish creatures made popular by films and television shows.
Humans have been in awe of mermaids for thousands of years, said Merpalooza organizer Stephanie Sims.
"It's been in the culture forever and ever," Sims said, noting examples from ancient folklore.
And the women at Weeki Wachee Springs State Park have been keeping the myth alive since 1947. The Old Florida attraction near Tampa celebrated its 65th anniversary with a mermaid reunion in July.
A month earlier, in a response to the Animal Planet channel documentary "Mermaids: The Body Found," the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced that there is no evidence mermaids are real.
But the 1984 movie "Splash," starring Tom Hanks and Darryl Hannah, pushed mermading hobby into another realm, Sims said. And, like vampires and zombies before them, the recent media attention may help mermaids become the next big pop-culture craze.
"They're very en vogue," Sims said.
Mermaids R Us, an outfitter of tails, tops and accessories, has been in business for a little more than a year, said owner Sandy Hoaglin. The Hernando Beach mother of a Weeki Wachee mermaid had a booth at Merpalooza.
Hoaglin makes custom-fit silicon tails in a variety of colors for those looking to transform into a mermaid and merman. Each take about a week to construct and go for $1,250 on her website. The fabric tails cost $150.
She's created tails for Jimmy Buffett's most recent concert tour, talk-show host Chelsea Handler and a farmer in Nebraska. "You never can tell," she said. Enid Montalvo took three hours to prepare for Saturday's convention. The 17-year old from Kissimmee wore bluish eye make-up, rhinestones near her temples, a hair accessory decorated with shells and T-shirt featuring Ariel from "The Little Mermaid." "Mermaids have been my obsession since I can remember," she said. "They're like free-spirited, and they're fun and they're beautiful and I've always wanted to be one." Enid admitted she's never seen a real mermaid but said she "saw a documentary the other day and they could exist. Who knows?"
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