The Real Life Mermaids of Florida’s Weeki Wachee Springs
July 16, 2026 at 11:07PMThere’s been plenty of coverage on the Weeki Wachee mermaids in recent years, and Jack Burke isn’t trying to break any new ground here. But he does manage to bring to life the weird underground theatre where the mermaids have danced for decades, beautifully evoking the wonder of celestial blue light and sparkly tails. Burke’s piece is a gentle homage to “this weird little relic from another age”—a time in America that belonged to the hustlers and the dreamers.
I eventually find a seat in the auditorium, just as a video of Mr Margaritaville himself, Jimmy Buffett, crackles onto the wall-mounted televisions. He launches into a rendition of Fins, featuring a quartet of smiling and costumed Weeki Wachee mermaids being wheeled on stage to backing-dance from their seats. Around me are grandparents in visors, sunburnt dads in fishing shirts, and little girls in glittering mermaid tails clutching plush dolphins.
The lights dim and a syrupy-voiced MC asks us if we’re ready for the mermaids. Inevitably, we are not quite ready enough, and are encouraged to express our excitement a little more vocally.
The dusty blue satin curtain slowly winches itself open, to reveal a thick wall of glass, behind which lies the famous spring itself. A water so clear and turquoise it hardly looks like water at all. Schools of tiny fish drift lazily across the scene. A turtle paddles past with supreme indifference.
And then, rising out of some deeper part of the spring, comes a mermaid.
from Longreads https://longreads.com/2026/07/16/mermaids-weeki-wachee-springs-america/
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