The Florida Highway Patrol reports that on February 2 a 23-year-old Weeki Wachee man lost his life after a crash caused by his failure to negotiate a curve in the roadway the Weeki Wachee man was driving a Toyota Tundra westbound on SR-50 the vehicle entered the north shoulder of the highway and struck a utility pole The vehicle was redirected back across the roadway the unrestrained driver was ejected from the vehicle as it overturned The driver was transported to an area hospital but he later expired from injuries suffered during the crash Contact us: [email protected] which returning players could contend for being the MVP of the North Suncoast Here is a list of the best players from the area who should guide their teams to success with their performance this spring There are plenty of worthy names on this list so be sure to vote in our poll for who is the top returning player for this 2025 Florida North Suncoast high school baseball season A year ago he drove in 27 runs in 30 games for the Wildcats The catcher hit .453 to pace the Sharks in 2024 with eight doubles and 15 RBI and also walked 18 times to give him a .580 on-base percentage The left-hander who signed with the University of Florida went 4-1 with a 0.54 ERA last year and he also hit .357 with eight doubles and 13 RBI in 17 games The infielder led the Mustangs hitting .453 last season The Florida Southern signee went 5-1 with a 2.33 ERA in 2024 the right-hander striking out 61 in 36 innings The Pirates shortstop hit .348 in 2024 with 28 runs scored and also had 17 walks leading to a .478 on-base percentage while going 1-0 with a 3.10 ERA and three saves The Seahawks’ top hitter last season with an average of .366 to go with three doubles The Hornets ace went 6-3 with a 1.42 ERA in 2024 The Royal Knights’ top pitcher last season went 5-3 with a 2.17 ERA Follow High School On SI throughout the 2024 high school baseball season for Live Updates the most up to date Schedules & Scores and complete coverage from the preseason through the state championships Be sure to Bookmark High School on SI for all of the latest high school baseball news To get live updates on your phone - as well as follow your favorite teams and top games - you can download the SBLive Sports app: Download iPhone App| Download Android App CHRIS BERNHARDT © 2025 ABG-SI LLC - SPORTS ILLUSTRATED IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK OF ABG-SI LLC The content on this site is for entertainment and educational purposes only Betting and gambling content is intended for individuals 21+ and is based on individual commentators' opinions and not that of Sports Illustrated or its affiliates All picks and predictions are suggestions only and not a guarantee of success or profit If you or someone you know has a gambling problem crisis counseling and referral services can be accessed by calling 1-800-GAMBLER make it a hot commodityA place where the living is easy and less The journey and transformation could be a metaphor for this beautiful stretch of the Nature Coast — after all, the Lower Creek Indians flowed there from Georgia and Alabama in the 1700s to begin new lives. They would go on to become what today are the Seminole tribe. Nearly 300 years later, people continue to settle in Weeki Wachee, a western iteration of the name Seminoles gave its river: wekiwa (“spring”) and chee (“little”). The transformation they seek is facilitated by a place where the living is easy, less costly, less crowded, and a place that’s an ideal combination of nature and old Florida but with all the convenience and benefits of modern day. But head west on Cortez from where the mermaids frolic in the spring and time magically turns back. Ahead are places to rent canoes and kayaks to paddle the Weeki Wachee River. You’ll pass Mary’s Fish Camp (open since 1946), where you can engage in the traditional Cracker pastime of hook-and-line fishing for mullet behind the camp store — ask Bell to show you how it’s done. In the neighborhood, stop in at in the historic Bayport Inn, the original of which opened in 1919, for lunch. Sitting at a table on the deck out back, diners gaze across a seemingly endless needle rush savannah, divided by winding tidal creeks and dotted here and there with palm hammocks. When you’re done, might as well take the wild and narrow causeway there out to Pine Island, where you’ll find Alfred McKethan Pine Island Park, three acres of white sand beach on the Gulf. If it’s getting close to dinner time, head south on Shoal Line to Hernando Beach, where there are no fewer than a dozen restaurants specializing in seafood; or just kick back and have a drink at a tiki bar and listen to some live music as you contemplate what to make for dinner at home. If it’s seafood, stay on the coast road south just a couple miles on your way home and you’ll find the tiny fishing village of Aripeka (settled in 1873). Pull in at the bridge over Hammock Creek at the Aripeka Stone Crab Company, where you can pick up succulent crab claws, fresh or smoked fish, oysters and other seafood delights. Kerri and Matt own the little shop on the creek. She’s a former Weeki Wachee mermaid; he captains the stone crab boat docked out back. “It’s just a wonderful place to live,” said Cindy Rusher, an agent with Tropic Shores Realty who came here from New Jersey. “I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.” But many come to the Weeki Wachee area to build a new home, Rusher said, and the community of Royal Highlands, just north of the Weeki Wachee attraction, has plenty of lots available. Prices for a half acre or more run from about $23,000 to $28,000, she said. The neighborhood is not deed restricted, and indeed some of the roads have not yet been paved. Homes there need septic systems and wells, as county utilities have not yet been extended into the area. Royal Highlands is where husband-and-wife Tropic Shores agents Richard and Yen Rovinsky live. They love the neighborhood, and plan to build a new home on a nearby lot they own. Richard says the demand for building lots in the community has been off the charts the past couple of years, in part driven by the lack of homes on the market. Many of the buyers are from the northeast U.S. looking to escape to a new lifestyle in Weeki Wachee. “They say, why should I live on a small lot in New York locked down when I can live in a beautiful area on a large piece of property?” Rovinsky said. He sold 75 lots in Royal Highlands last year. He’s on track to repeat or exceed those numbers in 2022, closing on three lots in one day the second week of this month. The Heather, a community just north of Weeki Wachee Springs, is a community to find pre-owned homes on oversized lots (a handful of 3/2/2s currently are listed between $275,000 and $325,000). It’s a golf community and there are condo units situated along the fairways (a 2/2 unit currently listed for $154,200). “It’s a very nice neighborhood,” said Rusher, adding homes there date to the early 1980s, but almost all have been updated with new flooring, granite counters and the like. This interesting home with a decidedly European flair sits on an oversized wooded lot in River Country Estates. The neighborhood is just 5 minutes from Weeki Wachee Springs State Park. [ NICK STUBBS | Tampa Bay Times ]Another subdivision where homes on larger parcels can be found is River Country Estates, which backs up to the south side of the Weeki Wachee River. Homes range from older and modest to newer, large and luxurious. “It’s a great neighborhood, but can be pricier,” said Rusher, but often that’s due to the greater number of newer four-bedroom two-story homes. A 4/4/2 two-story pool home on a half-acre there is listed now at $609,000. Listings for smaller 3/2 homes start in the low $300,000s. Other subdivisions in the area that interest buyers include Lake in the Woods and Berkley Manor. Homes on the Weeki Wachee River rarely come on the market, though neighborhoods like Weeki Wachee Gardens offer river and Gulf access. It’s an older community on river canals in the midst of transition, as small older homes and mobiles are demolished to raise elevated luxury homes. Small, 2/1 older homes and mobiles under 1,000 square feet on the water come on the market for $325,000 to $350,000, which Rusher said amounts to the land value only. Nick StubbsTimes Total Media Writer The Weeki Wachee River is where the Florida of the past flows headfirst into the Florida of the present It has mermaids and manatees with propeller scars Copyright 2023 WUSF 89.7. To see more, visit WUSF 89.7 Subscribe Now By CJ Lotz Diego Smith, who grew up near Weeki Wachee Springs she began swimming at the longtime Sunshine State attraction she is considered the world’s oldest performing mermaid “Whenever I sink beneath the surface of that beautiful water I don’t want to get out again,” Smith says The movement of the current feels like silk wrapping you and the bubbles become silver pearls all around.” Weeki Wachee is by far the most popular (and still running) of a group of kitschy dancing-mermaid tourist traps that popped up across the South in the midcentury heyday of road trips and car travel The entire springs and amphitheater became a state park in 2008 but the shows originated as a private business entrepreneur Newton Perry founded the mermaid attraction in a sandy-bottomed natural pool that connects with the springs and a seven-mile river Perry carved out a limestone theater where viewers looked through glass and into crystal clear water He was also strategic in his early marketing—within a year of opening It was then used as the setting for the 1948 film Mr A poster for the 1948 movie filmed at the Florida attraction The attraction’s rise and mystique was all about timing, says Carolyn Turgeon, author of the new book, The Mermaid Handbook which shares mermaid lore and interviews with performers from around the world the development of underwater camera equipment and the fact that Hollywood came calling early,” she says “and you get a picture of why the place was and is considered very glamorous.” Although “Weeki Wachee” comes from the Seminole language and means “little spring,” it’s so deep in parts that its lowest point has never been found Performers swim 16 to 20 feet below the surface and because the setting is part of a river and other aquatic wildlife do show up for visits and there was no sound piped in,” Smith says “But someone would do hand gestures through the windows like if there was a gator in the spring or a snake nearby they could motion to us and we knew to get out.” A vintage advertisement for the Weeki Wachee mermaids The breathing hoses Perry developed allow mermaids to stay underwater for long periods of time without having to carry around a tank “We would swim over to breathe from the air hose on each side of the springs,” Smith says “And then swim toward the audience and do tricks like eat a banana or drink a whole bottle of pop Today’s girls each have their own air hose out of sight of the audience.” Air flows from compressors and performers take frequent sips to stay underwater Performers drinking Grapette underwater in 1949 More than 100 million gallons of fresh water bubble up through underground caves each day and you can think of a million reasons why you don’t want to jump in,” Smith laughs And you don’t want to ever get out again.” “I might not have the stamina I had when I was a teenager,” Smith says CJ Lotz Diego is Garden & Gun’s senior editor she wrote G&G’s bestselling Bless Your Heart trivia game she graduated from Indiana University and now lives in Charleston where she tends a downtown pocket garden with her florist husband 
What happens in between is the great unknown The future of conservation in the South just got a little bit brighter—and not just for salamanders but they’re the craftsmanship of local crustaceans called lawn lobsters The drawls are receiving a lot of flak across the internet but a North Carolina linguist argues they’re actually pretty accurate Here’s a job opportunity that doesn’t come along every day Weeki Wachee Springs State Park will be holding mermaid auditions The mystical creatures have been a star attraction at the park for more than 70 years Located north of Tampa the Weeki Wachee Springs is one of those old-time Florida attractions that is a throwback to a simpler time It was one of the nation’s most popular tourist stops in the 1950s and included a submerged theater Although it started out as a privately-owned attraction Park spokesman John Athanason said the last time the park held auditions for would-be mermaids more than 50 applicants showed up but about 60% of them didn’t pass the endurance test He said the biggest thing the park looks for in a perspective mermaid is underwater endurance “The audition process on Friday will begin with an endurance test where we have the girls swim 400 yards – timed The mermaids perform in one of the park’s springs “The water is cold at 72 degrees year round And directly beneath them is the opening from the aquifer where 117 million gallons of water comes out on a daily basis,” said Athanason The spring creates a five mile-per-hour current “Then of course you have the native wildlife that might be surrounding them.” Historic Mermaid Promotional Video From 1961 Athanason said most applicants tend to be college students who typically stay with the park for several years Athanason said the training takes four to six months before a mermaid ever swims in part of a show “It takes about a full year to know all the parts of the show,” said Athanason If you’re a guy who’s always dreamed of becoming a merman that’s something I know that the park has discussed – you know – the possibility of having the first merman at Weeki Wachee,” said Athanason The park is currently undergoing scheduled renovations so the mermaid shows are temporarily suspended Athanason said he expects the shows will resume by June 15 Bill Bortzfield can be reached at bbortzfield@wjct.org, 904-358-6349 or on Twitter at @BortzInJax Image: Kathryn Brass-Piper Weeki Wachee Springs State Park | 6131 Commercial Way, Spring Hill  | weekiwachee.com Just 45 minutes north of Tampa, Weeki Wachee is best known for its mermaid show and they don’t let you swim with the mermaids no matter how long you plead This spring is unlike the others because it’s more water park than lazy river While the spring is large and the park is enormous tubing is limited to a 20-minute float on Buccaneer Bay which is great for those of us with a short attention span What Weeki Wachee offers tubers that can’t be beat are three slides—the Thunderbolt Pirate’s Revenge and Cannonball—that are nearly three stories tall and shoot swimmers into the clear water of Buccaneer Bay Bigger and faster slides exist at nearby theme parks but Weeki Wachee uses its natural spring water so you don’t have to worry about contracting giardia or swimming in recycled chlorinated water chock-full of little kid pee And unlike Ginnie Springs so it’s an ideal spring to bring the kiddos because once the park hits capacity you’ll have to wait outside on the asphalt in the sun and they’ll yell at you if you abandon your tube on the lazy river You can’t bring your own alcoholic beverages but there is a bar where you can get a little tipsy A section of the spring is roped off with a sign that designates the area as a Manatee Zone but some curious manatees have been known to wander into the swimming area and interact with guests Just south of Weeki Wachee High School on Commercial Way the BOCC approved a rezoning on the property from C-2/Highway Commercial to PDP (SF)/ Planned Development Single Family for up to 250 single-family detached dwelling units Performance conditions include a minimum of 4.6 acres natural vegetation; a minimum neighborhood park acreage of 3 acres exclusive of drainage retention areas; and a treed boulevard roadway from the entrance off of Highway 19 into the development The owner of the property is Garden Street Communities Southeast LLC out of Pensacola A subdivision application and construction drawings were submitted to the county’s building department in May 2022 The drawings are still in the review process The name of the development is Winding Oaks Contact us: [email protected] WEEKI WACHEE — A Florida city known for its mermaid shows now sleeps with the fishes Ron DeSantis signed legislation on Tuesday dissolving the city of Weeki Wachee The city located about 50 miles north of Tampa was founded in 1966 to help put the Weeki Wachee mermaid attraction at a state park onto maps and road signs the city was insolvent and offered no visible services to a small business community paying its taxes The city's demise will have no real effect on the Weeki Wachee Springs State Park The mermaids at Weeki Wachee State Park have been a staple of Florida tourism since 1947 Women dressed in fishtails perform underwater shows in the springs while viewed by an audience sitting in a theater on the other side of a glass partition The park is currently closed because of coronavirus concerns COMPLETE COVERAGE | Coronavirus in Florida The Lake Hideaway Community Development District is a “lagoon community” that is currently in the planning phases and is being undertaken by the Metro Development Group The 872-acre master-planned community will be built in the Weeki Wachee area south of Hexam Road west of Sunshine Grove Road and the Suncoast Parkway According to B2 Communications PR Director Shannon Burch the lagoon is set to contain 2,875 single-family and townhomes and will feature additional space for parks and amenities such as “tot lots” and dog parks The extra real estate will bring the parcel acreage to 896 which was approved in a revision of the Master Development Plan from the Board of County Commissioners on February 8 “Lake Hideaway will be a MetroPlaces Lagoon Community with the resort-style amenities that Metro is known for and best-in-class ULTRAFi internet service,” said Lisa Gibbings Vice President of Marketing & Communications at Metro Development Group While work on various amenities is expected to begin sometime in the opening months of 2026 the final plans for the lagoon community are still in flux The company predicts they will turn over lots to builders in the first six months of 2025 to allow for sales to begin and for model homes to open later in the year as well Additional statistics about what may be developed were provided by Hernando County Government Public Information Officer Dominique Holmes: MetroLagoons currently has three such locations in Florida including Epperson Lagoon in Wesley Chapel Lake Hideaway is not the only lagoon community planned for development either The others are Brightwater Lagoon in Fort Meyers Metro Development Group’s website boasts that the business is responsible for building the first “inland Lagoon” in the United States Metro also pushes the idea of offering groundbreaking amenities with “exceptional homes” to help their residents live as pleasantly as possible The company has received a variety of awards to back up these claims including the Cornerstone Award for Visionary Leadership from the Broadband Communities Summit as well as the Best Plan Award from the American Planning Association FL Metro has developed over 40,000 lots across 70-plus communities Contact us: [email protected] 2023DUNNELLON — Andrew Corter sat up on his beach mat next to the edge of the swimming hole wriggling into the tight red tail one leg at a time Corter, known to his 132,000 TikTok followers as @mermanandrew In tanks and aquariums across North America he’s delighted audiences while staying below the surface for two to four minutes at a time But before he would plunge into the 12-foot-deep waters of Rainbow Springs State Park Merman Andrew Corter carefully slides a second leg into one of the pockets inside his silicone mermaid tail Corter is swimming with the new tail for the first time The elaborate costume was created by the Mertailor [ JENNIFER GLENFIELD | Jennifer Glenfield ]Five of Corter’s mer-friends giggled as they dangled their tails off the edge of the dock into the 72-degree spring waiting for him to start filming social media content To have this job straight out of a childhood dream — and attract the swankier $350-an-hour gigs — you have to sell the fantasy While Corter barrel-rolled and backflipped below the surface before his eyes turned pink and his chest shook from the cold early enough to gulp down a protein shake and pack a 40-pound silicone tail in the trunk of his SUV The New Jersey native and merman of five years had just moved from St Petersburg to a new home near The Villages hoped the Central Florida location would mean easier access to springs and events he still drove an hour to be among the first in line the lap swimmers circling the swimming hole ignored Corter and his pod of mermaids who each dragged a rolling cart piled with tails and camera equipment The regulars were used to seeing merpeople on early weekday mornings Subscribe to our free Do & Dine newsletter You’re all signed up!Want more of our free, weekly newsletters in your inbox? Let’s get started. Model Felicia Flaherty (TikTok’s @feliciawithfins, with 1.7 million followers) adjusted starfish hair clips. Haley Smith (@mslunamarie to half a million on TikTok) had already locked in her makeup with three different kinds of setting spray Haley Smith, TikTok famous as @mslunamarie, adjusts her headpiece after exiting the water at Rainbow Springs. Smith has a wall of wigs hanging in her garage at home, though each can only be worn five or so times underwater. [ JENNIFER GLENFIELD | Jennifer Glenfield ]Mermen Corter and Eric Ducharme, who gained celebrity status in the industry making tails as “the Mertailor,” found prepping easier Each simply wore scale-print leggings underneath their tails to stay warm Corter directed the video shoot: Women posed together first Each performer swam with eyes open and arms outstretched treading water for the better part of an hour was exhausting inquiring minds have to know,” said the waitress Corter’s pod had driven down the road to meet at Swampy’s Bar & Grille — partially to refuel punctuating their favorites with a squeal or a “shell yeah!” Since behind-the-scenes clips also perform well the meal itself had turned into another opportunity for content It started in the gravel parking lot. Smith, who owns a clothing line called Crescent Creepers with her husband, got footage of new overalls as Flaherty and Colson modeled. Waiting at the host stand, the group recorded selfie boomerangs. They were seated outside next to Rainbow River. Half of the mers wandered to the shoreline, phones in hand. By the time the waitress asked her question, Corter was ready with his elevator pitch. “My name is Andrew. I’m a professional merman. We are all professional mermaids,” he said. He already knew what was coming next. “We work for ourselves,” Colson added. “We’re not captive.” “Every single time,” she added after the waitress left. “I almost want to have a pin that says ‘No, I am not a Weeki Wachee mermaid.’ Love them, but no.” Merman Andrew Corter, 29, of Lady Lake reviews footage on his phone taken on a GoPro. [ JENNIFER GLENFIELD | Jennifer Glenfield ]Weeki Wachee Springs State Park has inspired many of today’s professional merpeople. After the mid-century roadside attraction slapped tails on its underwater ballet dancers, word spread quickly. Elvis came to visit. So did a stream of filmmakers. Working at the park these days isn’t for everybody. The mermaids, who are also state employees, are only paid $15 an hour to start. Corter can charge over 20 times that as a freelance merman. If that number seems high, consider the cost of doing business. Custom tails run thousands of dollars. Then you have to learn how to safely swim in one. Corter opted for both free dive training and numerous mermaid courses from the Professional Association of Diving Instructors. He estimated he’s spent $3,000 on certifications and over $20,000 on tails. To build stamina and look camera-ready, he hits the gym five to six times a week. Three times a week, he meets Colson to train in the water. “Even when I’m not in a tail, I’m out at the springs,” he said. “I’m diving, even if it’s only with fins on. I’m practicing — practicing depth, practicing staying down, practicing facial expressions.” View this post on Instagram A post shared by Andrew Corter (@mermanandrew) merfluencers from around the state choose a spring for a meetup Having allies who understand underwater angles is crucial “I haven’t been asked for an actual resume,” said Coral Dover, who is approaching 300,000 TikTok followers as @the_sporty_mermaid “Because even when you do a photo shoot underwater you have to have somebody getting behind the scenes so you can make a Reel out of the photo shoot.” Kid’s birthday parties aren’t enough to pay the bills renaissance faire contracts and big aquarium shows but Florida doesn’t want mermaids in their aquariums,” he said Merman Andrew Corter, center, films content with some mermaid friends at Rainbow Springs State Park on June 6. Corter and his friends use their content to model for brands, book gigs and promote conservation. [ JENNIFER GLENFIELD | Jennifer Glenfield ]Weeki Wachee still dominates. Their former employee, Ducharme, broke off to open his own business: Mertailor’s Mermaid Aquarium Encounter in Lecanto which has a prominent plot line in “MerPeople,” offers shows of its own “It’s harder to be a mermaid in Florida than it is anywhere else.” of Tampa models a long pastel wig at Rainbow Springs State Park on June 6 known as @the_sporty_mermaid on Instagram and TikTok ran into Andrew Corter that morning and joined his pod's video shoot [ JENNIFER GLENFIELD | Jennifer Glenfield ]Launching a Merman Mafia“No Back,” Colson said as Corter reached for the door handle Corter had arrived at Mertailor’s Mermaid Aquarium Encounter with just a few minutes to spare before the 1 p.m to ensure the moment was captured perfectly Corter strutted through the entrance of his friend’s undersea world The interior is dimly lit and slightly chilly with a briny smell and a soundtrack provided by squawking parrots The main attraction: lots and lots of tanks Interactive touch tanks filled with sea stars and stingrays filled all six rows that Tuesday afternoon They applauded as the tip of a tail fluttered into view reflecting off the scales covering Ducharme’s lower half The top of his hyper-realistic tail melted into his torso but all over the country,” Corter whispered A mermaid performs for a small crowd in a tank at the Mertailor’s Mermaid Aquarium Encounter in Lecanto [ JENNIFER GLENFIELD | Jennifer Glenfield ]Unlike the mermaids who grew up wishing for gills Corter instead dreamed of becoming a ballet dancer At an LGBTQ mixer Corter was working in Sarasota I’ll sit in the pool and flop around,’” he remembered “That was the second that I fell in love with it I felt like I was doing a modern dance with a tail on that was an extension of me.” Ducharme was at the very next event Corter was scheduled to work. Corter took it as a sign. Five years and 117,000 Instagram fans later he is now the most followed merman on the platform Corter has booked others under the name Trident Tails Entertainment fire dancers and underwater burlesque performers to parties and renaissance festivals Then friends pointed out that Corter wasn’t spending enough time focusing on his own brand Corter traveled to Canada’s Aquatarium to perform in 55-degree waters for two weeks The same thing happened after a gig in Las Vegas and another at Dragon Con in Atlanta his Instagram following of roughly 2,000 shot up As Ducharme flipped and lip-synced underwater It was the first time seeing his friend swim in his own tank he launched a new troupe called Merman Mafia He wants to help others like him to break into the industry like I would watch all of my girls book events and it was awesome for my friends,” he said children pressed their hands to the glass to say hello Corter waited his turn to snap photos to post Florida merpeople have to hype each other up Then it was time to head separate ways — to edit videos It was back to the springs for more content poses with merman Andrew Corter at the Mertailor’s Mermaid Aquarium Encounter in Lecanto Ducharme is a performer and owner of the business making tails for celebrities including Lady Gaga [ JENNIFER GLENFIELD | Jennifer Glenfield ]Meet the mermanAndrew Corter will be doing a dunk the merman event during St Pete Pride’s Pride in Grand Central Street Carnival on Sunday The free event takes place in the Grand Central District from 11 a.m Follow along on TikTok and Instagram at @mermanandrew or visit mermanandrew.com for more information. Watch Corter and his friends in “MerPeople,” now streaming on Netflix. Gabrielle CaliseCulture and Nostalgia Reporter View this post on Instagram A post shared by Andrew Corter (@mermanandrew) 2018 for the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) to consider the development of a Reclaimed Water Master Plan (RWMP) and hear updates on the status of the Septic to Sewer (S2S) project.  Three members of the board decided to have staff review and revise the RWMP and not support the S2S project due to high cost and uncertain funding.  Commissioner Jeff Holcomb was not present at the meeting the Florida Legislature passed the Florida Springs Protection Act The act called for the creation of Basin Management Action Plans (BMAP) for major springshed systems in the state Each BMAP is created by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection with input from local governments The purpose of the BMAP is to create a roadmap for “Total Maximum Daily Load” or TMDL pollutant reduction The main pollutant of concern for the Weeki Wachee Springshed is nitrates and one of the major sources they found to contribute to groundwater nitrates is septic systems Onderdonk remarked that 30% of the nitrogen levels are being contributed by septic systems.  Another contributing factor is fertilizer runoff “Is someone actually measuring that it does what it says or is it playing a government game … to see who gets the most points?”  Onderdonk responded that the resulting metrics are “highly theoretical.” “We have to solve this problem.  The challenge is that we have a piece of legislation that was written in 2016 with an implementation date of 24 months … it’s causing havoc in the marketplace massive tax increase on homeowners throughout the state,” Ingoglia remarked Contact us: [email protected] there are plenty of players along the North Suncoast having standout years This list features some of the top sophomore football players we’ve seen or have been on the rise in the North Suncoast of Florida Take a look at our list and vote for who you feel has been the top performing senior high school football player in Florida’s North Suncoast High School on SI voting polls are intended to be a fun way to create fan engagement and express support for your favorite high school athletes and teams there are no awards for winning the voting Our primary focus is to highlight the abilities and accomplishments of all the athletes and teams included in our poll You can vote as often as you wish and are encouraged to share our polls with others The use of voting bots and other forms of automated voting are not allowed Individuals will be removed from the poll if any form of automated voting can be verified he has 26 catches for 465 yards with five touchdowns He also has 185 kickoff return yards with one returned for a touchdown and 758 all-purpose yards Through eight games on defense he has recorded three interceptions through eight games he has 15 tackles for a loss and eight sacks he has 17 catches for 210 yards with a touchdown through seven game he has completed 87 of 153 passes for 1,175 yards with 11 touchdowns against seven interceptions through seven games he has rushed for 448 yards and three touchdowns while catching 11 passes for 105 yards and one touchdown through seven games he has 29 catches for 638 yards with seven touchdowns On defense he has three interceptions with one returned for a touchdown over seven games he has rushed for 508 yards and 10 touchdowns to go with 10 catches for 167 yards and one receiving touchdown one punt returned for a touchdown and 839 all-purpose yards Follow SBLive Florida throughout the 2024 high school football season for Live Updates Be sure to Bookmark High School on SI for all of the latest high school football news To get live updates on your phone - as well as follow your favorite teams and top games - you can download the SBLive Sports app: Download iPhone App Within minutes, the normally quiet neighborhood that abuts the eastern edge of the 34,000-acre Chassahowitzka Wildlife Management Area was flooded by emergency responders from six agencies scrambling to control the blaze. The prescribed burn, which got out of control when the wind direction shifted suddenly, threatened about a dozen homes along the western edge of the gated golf course community, north of Weeki Wachee. While no homes were lost and no one was injured, many residents said they were left with thousands of dollars worth of damage to their property. While the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's official report on the fire isn't due out until later this week, agency officials say they have been attempting to make contact with residents affected by the incident. Homeowner Carolyne Webb said she and several of her neighbors whose property sustained damage have contacted the state Department of Management Services about filing a claim. "A lot of people lost their sprinkler systems, lawns and shrubs over something that wasn't their fault," Webb said. "It may not seem like much to some people, but it adds up. I would like to see something done about it." Prescribed burns are meant to keep wildlife habitat healthy — and neighboring humans safe — by ridding the landscape of thick brush that acts as fuel for wildfires. The burn involving 200 acres on March 28 was intended to do just that, said Fish and Wildlife regional director Chris Wynn. But high wind gusts caused it to leap beyond its boundaries and spread to an undeveloped wooded area within Glen Lakes. The aftermath brought questions from several Glen Lakes residents, who wondered why the state agency had decided to perform a controlled burn in dry conditions. However, Wynn said the agency had received proper permits and was cleared for the burn by the state forestry service. "What happened was an unfortunate act of nature that no one could have predicted," said Wynn, who noted that just three of the 447 wildfires reported over the past 10 years in Hernando County grew from prescribed burns. Wynn said that Fish and Wildlife and state forestry officials determined that excessive undergrowth on the Glen Lakes-owned land helped fuel the blaze as it got near homes. He has since met with Glen Lakes general manager David Craighead, who he said expressed interest in developing a "fire wise" plan that would help lessen the chances of another volatile wildfire. "The chances are good that something like this could happen again at some point," Wynn said. "The better a private land owner can manage their property, the less likely they will suffer disastrous consequences from a fire." Subscribe to our free DayStarter newsletter Logan Neill can be reached at lneill@tampabay.com or (352) 848-1435. Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker FORT LAUDERDALE — With an oxygen tank strapped to her back and holding her camera scuba diver Kim Porter crashed the mermaid’s party The amateur underwater photographer snapped photos and video as former Weeki Wachee mermaid Barbara Wynns and her husband renewed their marriage vows off the coast of Lauderdale-by-the-Sea Wynn loved the unexpected images so much she gave Porter some of her mermaid tails in thanks she put up the most amazing video of our underwater wedding and just gifted us that,” says Wynns who for nearly 50 years worked in the mermaid show at Weeki Wachee Springs State Park north of Tampa She quit her job as a property manager to work as a bookkeeper a job that afforded more free time and weekends off so she could pursue a new vocation: mermaid photographer she does about 40 photo shoots a month across Florida and beyond Porter uses the tails Wynns gave her to photograph mermaids frolicking in the surf and underwater She particularly enjoys watching the transformation her models go through as they put on the tails and pose for photos they’re a little uncomfortable and a little uneasy and I’ll take a couple of pictures and I’ll show her just how beautiful they are,” says Porter “By the end of the photo shoot they’re a true mermaid On a recent Saturday morning in Pompano Beach who wore an orange mermaid tail and posed by the shore “Wait for the splash,” Porter told Pitterson as she flipped her tail against the waves and she makes you feel natural and beautiful,” Pitterson says “It’s like something you’ve always dreamed of doing and then it happens Although the mermaid shoots are more popular with women Porter says she has photographed men and boys “They’re into it for a little different reasons,” Porter says “You have to look at things like the gods that are male mermaids but men are as just as into it as women are.” Porter travels across Florida and to other states for private mermaid shoots and mermaid pool parties for up to 15 people and include the tail rental and one high-resolution photo “Little girls are a lot of fun because they’re not as guarded as a grown woman.” “I do like helping women realize how beautiful they truly are it makes them a stronger and a better person For more information on Porter’s photo shoots call 754-367-5177 or go to Facebook.com/KPunderwater or AMermaidsTale.us Graduation took a big toll. Leading scorers Seytia Hill, Shayleese Vazquez, Brooke Sereda and Mykenna Corbett were all seniors last season. That leaves junior Morgan McDaniel and sophomore Princess Hester as the only returning players. McDaniel started and averaged 8.5 points per game. Hester was the first player off the bench and provided stability. After that, most of the others currently on the 10-player roster were on junior varsity last season. “We’re less experienced but we all have a good work ethic,” said Hester, who averages 17 points per game. “We want to get back to where we were last year and I think we can do that. I think some teams are going to underestimate us. We’re going to surprise some people.” Heading into the Thanksgiving week, Weeki Wachee was 1-1 after beating Citrus in the opener and losing to Nature Coast. McDaniel missed both games due to a concussion she sustained in the preseason. She could be back when the Hornets hit the court again Dec. 3 against Hernando. In the meantime, coach Mike Munro will spend each practice trying to get his team acclimated to varsity play. Sophomore Sy Crowley has been a pleasant surprise, averaging 18 points in the first two games after playing sparingly on varsity as a freshman. Crowley is also a volleyball player, so she had just joined the team once her other season ended. Weeki Wachee sophomore Sy Crowley has already made an impact in this young season. [ SCOTT PURKS | Special to the Times ]“Sy is a pure athlete” Munro said. When McDaniel returns, the Hornets will have three bona fide scorers. After that it will be a group of sophomores and freshmen who have to pick up the slack on offense and defense. “They are learning a lot,” Munro said. “They play hard, they are hungry. They play as a team. We’ll definitely be one of those teams that is better at the end of the season than we are now” Unlike last season, when Weeki Wachee had loads of experience, this season will be all about finding which players fit in where. McDaniel and Hester are the known factors. Hester, whose full name is Princess Samara Janai Hester and whose dad is named Prince, will have an increased role as a guard. McDaniel, who is dual-enrolled at Pasco-Hernando State College and plans to graduate next year with an associate degree, will play point guard this year and run the offense. Subscribe to our free Sports Today newsletter “Last year she had three studs to throw the ball to,” Munro. “She’s a real good shooter, so this year we figure she’ll be double or triple teamed. So we’re going to have to get her opportunities.” Despite the personnel losses, the Hornets should still be one of the top teams in Class 4A, District 6. The schedule is about the same as last year, with mostly Pasco and Hernando schools. The season does end with two difficult games against East Lake and Wildwood, both playoff teams a year ago. McDaniel doesn’t expect a big dropoff. And with only one senior on the roster, whatever happens this season means the team will only be better next season. “It will be hard for us to reach the level we did last year,” McDaniel said. “But the young players are really good listeners. Tell them to do something and they do it. So I would say the expectations are still pretty high.” Rodney PageFormer Times Staffer Jennifer Dobbs, a top agent with Mihara Real Estate, has says that number is a range between 45-60. “They’re looking for a 45-minute to 1-hour drive,” said Dobbs. “If it falls within that range, they’re OK.” Tampa being a major work center in the region, many who work there live there or in one of its surrounding suburbs. It’s more expensive than living in either Pasco or Hernando to the north, but for Tampa workers, it’s always been about being able to pull into the parking lot at work while steam is still billowing from the coffee in the travel mug that made the trip with them from home. But increasingly, more Tampa residents are rethinking things. Lower home and land costs, lower property taxes, less crowding and traffic await just a few miles north across the county line in Pasco. For those who push farther into Hernando, the values get even better. Dobbs notes home and land prices can be considerably lower in Pasco and Hernando, as are property taxes. The savings mean working families that need an extra bedroom can afford it, along with a bigger lot and maybe even a pool. If building a new home, the upfront impact fees are lower, particularly in Hernando. Dobbs said a lot of her buyers who commute to Tampa look to Pasco and Hernando for more than value. They want to break out of tight subdivisions with small lots and zero lot-lines. “They aren’t looking for cookie-cutter homes (in subdivisions),” said Dobbs. “They want their space.” She’s seeing a lot of interest from buyers seeking more freedom from rules and mandates in states like Illinois and New York. “I spoke to a mother whose daughter is on the softball team up north and had to wear a mask outside while playing softball,” Gionta said. “They’re tired of their kids wearing masks even outside; they’re coming here because we’re more open.” These buyers want the most for the least, plenty of elbow room and at least a bit of countryside. Even if they work in Tampa or St. Pete, they’re OK with the drive, which means they can choose Pasco or Hernando, where $350,000 buys a larger family home on an oversized lot. Gionta estimates they would pay $450,000 for the same house in the Carrollwood area of Hillsborough, where the lot would likely be small and they would “pay higher taxes to boot.” “Some work mostly from home, and even if they have to drive one or two days a week to an office (in Tampa), they don’t mind,” Gionta said, adding for those who must fly from time to time the drive to Tampa International Airport via the Suncoast Parkway is an easy one. Gionta said the Wesley Chapel area of southeast Pasco is a hot destination for families and empty-nesters now. Most of what’s available is relatively new single-family homes and townhomes in new, upscale subdivisions. Prices come in above what buyers who travel a bit farther north find, but that’s because they are paying for the newer homes, a wealth of shopping, as well as the abundance of dining, recreation, entertainment options, not to mention very highly rated schools. Still, there are some Wesley Chapel bargains that come up. Gionta just listed a 3/2.5/1 townhome with 1,634 square feet of living area. It was built last year by Lennar and has water views and backs up to a preserve in Haven and Meadow Pointe. It’s priced at $329,000. Dobbs said she’s not so hesitant anymore to show buyers who work in Tampa homes that are well north of Wesley Chapel — places that in the past would be off the table because of their distance from the city. She said even Royal Highlands near Weeki Wachee in west Hernando is OK with many. Larger, newer pre-owned homes on half-acre and larger lots are found there, and there are plenty of large parcels to build on. In east Hernando, Ridge Manor is similar to Royal Highlands, as it also has a lot of available land and is divided into large parcels. Dobbs recently was showing homes along the State Road 54 corridor in Pasco to a working couple, but they ended up buying in Weeki Wachee, 25 miles farther north. “They were perfectly OK with that,” Dobbs said. “She was willing to go to New Port Richey,” said Dobbs, and the new Ridge Road extension to the Suncoast Parkway made the location all the more attractive. The Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) voted unanimously at the regular meeting on September 24 2019 to approve the applications to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection Springs Fund and Southwest Florida Water Management District’s (SWFWMD) Cooperative Funding Initiative to obtain grants to go forward with the Septic to Sewer (S2S) Conversion project that was developed by the Hernando County Utility Department (HCUD) in 2016 The Septic to Sewer conversion will cost 450 property owners within the project area $6000 each or cumulatively $2.7 million on top of the county’s share and grant monies.  In order to understand the following grant applications it’s necessary to know and understand key terms like Basin Management Action Plan (BMAP) and Priority Focus Area (PFA) The act called for the creation of Basin Management Action Plans for major springshed systems in the state although there are numerous ways to reduce nitrogen in the groundwater The Weeki Wachee BMAP was finalized in 2018 and our local governments have already completed projects on the BMAP.  There are Priority Focus Areas (PFA) within the Weeki Wachee BMAP which have been deemed to be critical areas for nitrogen reduction projects “This project includes construction of additional aquifer recharge basins to increase WRF capacity and facilitate reuse of reclaimed water through returning highly treated water to the Floridan aquifer The total project cost is $7,800,000.  HCUD is requesting $3,900,000 in Cooperative Funding Initiative from SWFWMD in 2021.” and construct necessary upgrades to the Glen WRF with the treatment processes necessary to achieve the effluent limit of 3mg/l total nitrogen required by the Basin Management Action Plan The total cost of required improvements is anticipated to be $5,000,000.  Hernando County Utilities Department is seeking $3,700,000 from FDEP Springs funding to assist with compliance.” This project is the expansion of the Airport WRF from a permitted capacity of 3.5 million gallons per day (MGD) to 6 million MGD.  The expansion is needed in order to close the Spring Hill (Osowaw) wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) “The Spring Hill WWTP has out-of-date technology that does not nitrify nor denitrify wastewater,” according to the county.  “Effluent from Spring Hill WWTP currently discharges to groundwater in the Weeki Wachee PFA filters and other assets necessary to expand the WRF and to meet all applicable FDEP standards,” states county documentation This water reclamation facility is located in the Priority Focus Area of the Weeki Wachee BMAP.  The goal of the project is to achieve Advanced Wastewater Treatment (AWT) standards of 3 mg/l total nitrogen.  Funding is requested for only the nutrient reduction portion of the project which includes the construction of anoxic basins and supplemental carbon feed will need to be constructed in order to achieve this.  The fifth project is the septic to sewer conversion project which will affect roughly half or approximately 450 properties in an irregularly shaped area north of Elgin Blvd The westernmost border of the area is between 1000-2000 feet just east of Commercial Way and continues eastward until undeveloped land is reached.  This section is referred to as district A of the Weeki Wachee Springshed The removal of septic tanks will require the design and construction of gravity sewers The impetus for the conversions is the Weeki Wachee Basin Management Action Plan (BMAP) which identifies septic tanks as a major contributor of excess nitrogen to groundwater.  Removal of septic tanks and drain fields is expected to reduce the excess nitrogen.   the county is required to reduce the discharged nitrogen by 195,200 pounds per year within 20 years of June 2018 there is a 20% funding gap that would have to be paid for by the residents “These projects initially started out at about $25,000 per house It looks like it will be upwards of $30,000 per house So I want to let you know that 20% is about $6000 that the resident will be responsible for even though we would be providing 80% of the funding through these other agencies and the utility That’s… the recipe we would submit as part of this application The county is currently working on a mandatory connection ordinance for sanitary sewer which is under legal review.  The projected completion date is Oct according to the County Administrator’s Board Directives plan half of district A is a very small sliver of properties that fall within the Primary Focus Area of the BMAP   One of the completed projects listed on the BMAP for the Weeki Wachee Springshed is the $240,000 Septic to Sewer conversion study looks at the feasibility of converting 32,000 properties within the Weeki Wachee Springshed BMAP from septic to sewer in 19 districts (A-S) was estimated at the time of the study to be around $700 million.   District A and B septic to sewer conversions from the conversion study appear on the June 2018 list of stakeholder projects to reduce nitrogen sources Districts A and B are located just north of Weeki Wachee Springs The price for completing both conversions was estimated to be $48 million in 2018 but that has already increased with the current anticipated cost for phase 1 District A project.   Including the $2.7 million cost which 450 property owners of District A will have to bear the project cost is $9.2 million over the $10 million estimate provided in 2018  There are 900 septic systems to convert in District A and 1,310 septic systems to convert in District B Contact us: [email protected] At least six divers have died there since 1981 the latest this week.By Times staffPublished Oct 2016Two divers from Fort Lauderdale died Sunday when they failed to resurface during an outing at a spring near Weeki Wachee where nearly a dozen people now have died Deputies say the bodies of Patrick Peacock and Chris Rittenmeyer were recovered Monday morning near the Eagle's Nest dive area after they disappeared Sunday afternoon the two men — experienced divers who several times previously had explored the caves at Eagle's Nest — arrived Sunday along with Justin Blakely for a three-day outing FROM 2009: Drowning shows Eagle Nest Sink underwater caves in Hernando County are dangerous — even to skilled divers The divers entered the water around 2 p.m. and Blakely — the least experienced of the divers — remained close to the surface while Peacock and Rittenmeyer explored the caves Deputies said the men had planned to check in with Blakely at a predetermined location at 3 p.m. Blakely checked back every 30 minutes but was unable to locate divers Dive crews could not locate the men Sunday night but their bodies were found Monday morning after the search resumed after 9 a.m. They were found near each other in about 260 feet of water Autopsies are being conducted to determine the cause of death Eagle's Nest is in the Chassahowitzka Wildlife Management Area a few miles north of Weeki Wachee Springs State Park The underwater caves are known in diving circles as the "Grand Canyon" for their stunning views Before Sunday, at least eight divers had died there since 1981, most recently in 2013, when a father and son drowned during a Christmas Day excursion. The site was closed to divers from 1999 to 2003. A small Florida town is serving as a historical backdrop to a resurgence in mermaid mythology and a growing industry of serious athletes there’s some peeling paint but features like the clamshell roof seem to have crossed from out-of-date to keenly retro The natural spring come waterpark is stunning the color of an iceberg but 74 degrees year-round This unlikely roadside attraction is wedged along Florida’s west coast near the Chassahowitzka national wildlife preserve more than an hour and 30 minutes from the nearest big cities of Tampa and Orlando and smack in the middle of rural territory dominated by agribusiness 308,000 people visited the spring last year the park’s attendance has improved up to 40% each year pale white-haired women in cotton dolphin smocks and at least one girl scout troop packed the 400-seat submarine auditorium on a recent Tuesday It’s possible they’re lured in by the spring or the “river boat cruise.” But only one park attraction has an hour-long wait: the mermaid show Smiling in cherry red lipstick and tailed in sewn lycra tubes the women of Weeki Wachee make the show look effortless The audience applauds as they grab the ends of one another’s tail to wheel around before the glass breathing out of black compressor tubes filled with air It languished for years after a late-1950s heyday when white women demonstrated underwater picnicking and soda drinking Some wager that the park’s cultural relevance is peaking as it moves from being seen as outdated to antique a disappearing display of old-Florida camp Maybe nostalgia-hungry tourists are spiking attendance But there’s another explanation too – that mermaids have taken up the mantel as America’s “new vampire,” pop culture’s latest pick for the sexy-scary-sweet monster that is supposed to tell us something about our own humanity who hauled rusted refrigerators and abandoned cars out of the crystalline spring to sink a theater 6 ft below the surface That theater was later sunken 16ft below the surface When the network purchased the park it incorporated the city too a tiny place with a permanent population of between three and nine residents The brilliant marketing scheme allowed the city to place roadside signs leading to the park and call Weeki Wachee a city of more mermaids than men a theater history professor from Weber State University in Utah She’s spent much of her professional career studying mermaids in water-shows in Texas and Florida That was before Jacques Cousteau,” and before widely available public pools At the time, the women were among a group of women athletes being pushed to “swim pretty,” rather rather than competitively, Kokai said. Probably one of the best-known examples of this was Esther Williams and who later made a career swimming on-screen the women of Weeki Wachee serve as a historical backdrop to a growing resurgence in mermaid mythology There are “mermaiders” fighting for rights to swim in public pools wearing silicone tails professional mermaids available for your next aquarium opening or pool party and a variety of custom tail-makers from whom to purchase your tails There have been attempts at MerCons and MerPalooza’s. In North Carolina there was a Merfest in January this year the women swimming as professional mermaids at Weeki Wachee are incredible athletes Performing in the park’s mermaid show is something like synchronized freediving with your legs tied together and weighed down inside a lycra cocoon Women leave the spring shivering from the 30 minutes performances in the 74 degree water but kindly bat away curious turtles and watch for poisonous snakes as they work (water moccasins So that they appear to emerge from the bottom of the spring they must enter the underwater stage through a claustrophobic cement cylinder filled with water that drops 16 ft below the surface then runs 64 ft to the underwater stage Many professional mermaids can hold their breath upwards of four minutes mermaids must be able to freedive to 117 ft below the surface of the spring as well as perform ballet-like choreography the mermaids shed their tails to rise from the depths wearing white one-piece bathing suits trimmed with stars and stripes lifting a roughly 6ft by 4ft American flag to the tune of “Proud to be an American” Alongside the decades-old saccharine performances are wildly creative videos coming out of Weeki Wachee, many produced by 27-year-old Little Mermaid “prince” Dennis Doucette. One could easily devour 30 of Ducette’s Aquaman videos addictive six-second Vines mostly filmed at the spring One of the more well-known full-time mermaids, Mermaid Melissa worked at SeaWorld for 10 years as a marine mammal trainer before crossing into mermaiding and talks in mermaid puns (shetalks of her “shell” phone and of her tail’s “development”) Melissa no longer checks her phone’s voicemail because it’s “overwhelmed” with long messages from children Her email account is also flooded by children hoping to speak with a “real mermaid.” And her 16 large $5,000-a-piece custom silicone tails have nearly taken over a room in her Orlando “There’s a lot of people now who get a tail in hopes of having a mermaid job or career and it’s a difficult lifestyle,” said Melissa “There are no mermaid jobs that are just readily available.” The industry has also grown to include amateur swimmers women dedicated enough to remaking themselves in the image of a mermaid that they have fought city councils to wear silicone tails in public pools Jennifer Conti brought her mermaid tail with her to the FishHawk Community Development District meeting in Tampa when she argued she should be allowed to swim in the development’s public pool with her tail She fought the district, “to just [be able to] swim with the kids, it’s supposed to be for everybody,” she told a reporter for the Tampa Bay Times pool officials are fighting similar battles “[Mermaid tails] bind legs together and make it difficult to safely manoeuvre in the water,” Rob Campbell, City of Edmonton aquatic strategies supervisor told CBC about his concerns with Alberta parents’ fight to allow their children to swim in mermaid tails “promotes breath-holding which can result in blackouts,” Campbell told the news station so long that she couldn’t eat or drink during filming lest she need to start the retailing process again The new set of businesses supplying silicone tails are born of the internet fulfilling the niche cosplay desires of a growing (or maybe it was always there?) market to live the childhood mermaid fantasy describes himself as be something of a prodigy in the pool exempted from Weeki Wachee’s 18 and over policy for performers In his studio hangs a portrait of himself in an orange mermaid tail swimming contemplatively near the bottom of a black pool His business now sells an about $120 “eco mermaid tail,” made of swimsuit material he sells more adult tails than kids – up to 250 per month “I think most people are buying them because they had a dream of being a mermaid as a kid,” said Ducharme “Never in a million years did I think I was going to be able to live my dream,” as a mermaid tail-maker Just as some academics have argued that vampires play to tropes of male whiteness mermaids carry with them our society’s own ills “The deal is that culturally mermaids have been a safe way for white women to express sexuality because while the top half of the mermaid might be really pretty and attractive so it’s the ultimate kind of look and don’t touch,” said Professor Kokai “I think it’s a way for women to play around with sexuality without being seen as impure or slutty.” [Weeki Wachee has] never had a black performer though the question is difficult to answer definitively because the park’s archival photos were burned in an ownership change said there had been a black mermaid while he was at the park and said in an email that he was “told there were others before” The most recent high-profile example of the racial strife around water in the US was a pool party in Texas where a police officer pulled a gun on black teenagers after they were “refusing to leave” Kokai cites bizarre incidences of water parks casting crustaceans as black male figures and the white half-fish mermaids are often depicted as living a very care free life not worrying about the sorts of concerns of men as sort of commerce and industry,” said professor Kokai island-others floating around in this nostalgia.” though there looks to be some movement on that front as the LGBT community has gained acceptance over the last decade discusses mermaids as a source of empowerment and underwater as a place he feels comfortable “I call it life behind the underwater glass windows,” Ducharme said Transgender teen Jazz Jennings has also started a tail-making company “Mermaids are just the most whimsical, mystical creatures of all time,” Jennings told Cosmopolitan magazine “A lot of transgender individuals are attracted to mermaids and I think it’s because they don’t have any genitals I definitely secretly dream of being a mermaid I’m not really attracted to boys; I’m attracted to mermen.” Ducharme asked to see the show hundreds of times “Back then it wasn’t a normal thing for boys to be involved with it,” said Ducharme about mermaiding Five-year-old Lily Dobeek from Cleveland Photograph: Robert Azmitia/Demotix/The Guardian“I don’t think the merman market has been huge because people are people have been uncomfortable with it,” Candy Ducharme said She said a young man came into the shop Monday of the same week to buy a tail Ducharme said when young men come into her shop to buy tails she often points them to her son’s portrait “He can walk in here and be very comfortable in his own skin,” said Candy Ducharme Ducharme’s next business target is the LGBT swimwear market Crystal-clear and a refreshing temperature year-round Florida's springs are the swimming holes of your dreams Skye Sherman is a travel writer based in West Palm Beach Her work has appeared in Travel + Leisure What's that thing jutting through the back of your head? Oh, that's just Pinellas County's connection to Manatee, the famous and infamous Sunshine Skyway Bridge, as seen from the lovely beaches of Fort De Soto Park, 3500 Pinellas Bayway S, St. Pete. So, lots of us don't often get up to Hernando, but if we do, shouldn't we give respect to the hard-working ladies who make bringing children's fantasies to life their day jobs? Perpetuating the magic by getting a selfie with the Weeki Wachee Mermaids is a must if you're that far north. Weeki Wachee Springs, 6131 Commercial Way, Spring Hill. The moment she laid eyes on the certified letter, Barbara Wishart knew something was up. She didn't recognize the sender's name, address or even the Panhandle postmark: Bonifay, FL. Like many Floridians living south of the Lake City line, Barbara, a longtime Tampa Bay area resident, had never been there — much less heard of it. "I said, Bonifay, where's that?" she recalls. Curious, she began reading the letter and then started breathing fast. "It was so emotional. There is no describing what went through me." Barbara, a former mermaid at Weeki Wachee Springs in Brooksville, is now 75. She's still physically fit, works privately as a caregiver, and has three grown children. She was widowed in 1969, when her husband died of melanoma. She raised her kids mostly as a single mother, so her work ethic is solid, rooted in practicality and survival. There isn't much that can rattle her, but the unexpected letter with the Bonifay postmark cut right to her heart. "All these years later," she says, her voice trailing off. "So late in my life. I always wondered if this day would ever come." At 17, Barbara could swim like nobody's business. A German immigrant who had arrived in Tampa just one year earlier, she worked briefly as a model in New York and had trained in ballet. So it made sense for her to audition for a job as a mermaid at Weeki Wachee Springs, where her sister, Johanna, had already been hired. The year was 1956. In the decades before Disney, Weeki Wachee, about 45 minutes north of Tampa, was considered a glamorous tourist attraction. Audiences sat on wooden benches in the little underwater theater and watched, enthralled, as Barbara and other mermaids fed the fish, drank bottles of soda and ate fruit, as if they weren't gliding around in a clear, 74-degree Florida spring, but just coolly going about their day. At 5 feet 5 1/2 and 110 pounds, Barbara was a natural beauty. She had big brown eyes and long, thick auburn hair. Sometimes she could hear the tourists who pressed close to the glass viewing window saying that they thought it was all fake, an illusion, that she wasn't really wet at all. On Sunday, her day off, she usually went to her parents' cozy apartment. One Sunday she decided to go instead to the park at the University of Tampa. There, she met a tall young man with gray-blue eyes and dark hair — a sophomore studying business administration. He told her he had a football scholarship and had served in the Navy. After a few dates, Barbara was starry eyed, and it wasn't long before she found out she was pregnant. Her parents, strict Catholics, insisted that the couple marry. Barbara and the young man moved to Jacksonville, where they lived briefly. A month later, Barbara realized she wasn't in love, moved back to Tampa and filed for divorce. On Aug. 20, 1957, she gave birth to a healthy baby girl at Tampa General Hospital. The baby weighed 7 pounds, 9 ounces. She had already decided she would give the baby up for adoption. As was the custom in those days, Barbara never got to hold the baby. All her life she wondered what had happened to the little girl. Every year on Aug. 20, she thought about her. Now, more than half a century later, she held a letter from the daughter she had given up. It began: "Dear Barbara, as I write this letter to you, so many emotions flood my mind. I realize that the result of this letter could be life-changing for me — and you. Born in 1957 in a Tampa hospital, I was adopted at birth ... I fully believe you are my birth mother. A woman, throughout my life, whom I often wondered about, but never once resented the decision she made 56 years ago. My life, thus far, has been far better than I probably deserved." The letter was from Deborah Crutchfield, a piano teacher in Bonifay, a town of about 2,800 that's about 95 miles west of Tallahassee. For 34 years, hundreds of students have sat side by side with Deborah and learned their notes and scales. Lean and willowy, with hazel eyes, short-cropped chestnut hair and a face still beautiful as a pageant queen, Deborah has played piano at just about every wedding and funeral in town and is something of a fixture in Bonifay. Everyone knows her. At 56, she's now on her third generation of piano students. She has two grown sons who make her proud. Her husband, Charles, works as a diesel mechanic at a Caterpillar dealership. "When someone is looking for a piano teacher, I'm usually the one they call," she says with a laugh. Deborah, who grew up in Lutz, and later Brandon, knew "from day one" that she had been adopted but never had any desire to find her birth mother. "My mom is the mom who raised me, and she was the most wonderful, sweet lady who ever lived," she recalls. Her parents, Jack and Martha Lee Lucas, were middle aged when they adopted Deborah and Donna, who is 21 months older and has a different biological mother. "It was wonderful to have older parents because they were financially established and we never wanted for anything," Deborah says. When Deborah was in her 20s, Martha Lee Lucas dug out a yellowing newspaper photo of the woman she believed was Deborah's birth mother. It was a picture of a lovely young woman modeling in an ad for the old Maas Brothers Department Store in Tampa. "She said: 'Debbie, I think this is a picture of your birth mother. I won't be hurt if you try to find her.' " The adoption had been arranged through a doctor in South Tampa. Deborah speculates the photo came from a family friend — a longtime nurse who worked in the doctor's office. But she never did look for her birth mother; nor did she ask any questions. "It just proves the interest was never there," she says. In May 2012, Martha Lee Lucas died. She was 98. In the months after her death, something motivated Deborah to finally begin searching in earnest. It was not an obsession, she recalls, but more a nagging curiosity, spurred by the realization that she might have biological siblings. "I believed the chances of finding her would be very slim," she says. "After all, it was a closed adoption and 55 years had passed." Last summer, Deborah contacted the Florida Adoption Registry Reunion. After a few weeks, she was told that no match had been found. She was then advised by the Florida Department of Children and Families to request what is known as "non-identifying information," a common tool used by adoptees seeking information on birth parents. Deborah made the request and, in September 2013, received a three-page, single-spaced letter in return. It was full of interesting tidbits snatched from the year she was born. The letter stated that her birth mother was born in Germany, that she had wanted to be a ballet dancer but her parents couldn't afford the training, that a social worker at the time had described her as "one of the most beautiful women" she had ever seen. Nothing really stood out, except for one small detail: "Your birth mother and her sister swam as mermaids at Weeki Wachee Springs." Deborah did a quick Google search and turned up an old newspaper story about a woman named Barbara Wishart, a German immigrant who performed as a mermaid at Weeki Wachee in the 1950s. The story appeared about a decade ago in the St. Petersburg Times. "It all just fell in my lap," Deborah recalls. "I couldn't believe it, but I was fully convinced I had found my birth mother." Deborah continued researching and located an address in North Tampa. A few days later, Deborah sat down and composed a letter on the computer and printed it out: "I wanted it to be easily read," she explains. "I left the ball in her court. I wasn't begging for a response or posing a threat. I'm 56. I knew her kids were grown and that there would be no feelings of jealousy." The letter took nine days to reach Barbara, who had recently moved from a house to an apartment in Northdale. When she opened it and read it, her heart nearly stopped. She felt breathless. She immediately called her son in North Carolina and then her daughters. The first thing she told them was that she was all right — and not to be alarmed. She had told them all long ago about the baby she had given up for adoption, but nothing had prepared her for this moment: "I always thought: Will our paths cross? But who knew it would happen so late in our lives." "It was out of the blue when the phone rang," Deborah recalls. "A woman said, 'This is Barbara.' I had to stop and think. She had a very obvious German accent. Then I knew." Deborah made the 350-mile drive from Bonifay to Tampa the following weekend. Barbara was waiting on her patio. She instinctively reached out and pulled Deborah into a hug, clinging to her for a long time. "I walked up not knowing what to expect," Deborah remembers. "One of my friends had said: 'Imagine losing something for 56 years and then finding it.' " Barbara remembers being taken with "what a beautiful, loving person Deborah is inside and out." Deborah was struck by the thought that their finding each other "had to be God's timing." They spent two nights at Barbara's apartment, listened to music — a love they share — and talked. It was the first of several short reunions they've managed over the past few months. Deborah calls it the beginning of a new relationship "that will take time to develop." In the meantime, they call and email regularly. Deborah has slowly gotten acquainted with her half siblings — Gregory, 52, Barbara, 49, and Christine, 48. She even visited Gregory during a recent trip to North Carolina. Last weekend, Barbara met Deborah's son Lucas, 31, for the first time. But nothing, Barbara says, will ever compare to that very first meeting. "She came around the corner," Barbara recalls, "and my first thought was 'Oh, my gosh, I finally get to hold my daughter after all these years.' " Elizabeth Bettendorf can be reached at ebettendorf@hotmail.com Olinger had waited a long time and shelled out a ton of money to climb behind the wheel of what could best be described as a hard-core car guy's ultimate dream machine. The sleek, fire engine red 1969 Plymouth Roadrunner offers more than appealing looks. It's something of an automotive marvel — a hybrid creation that combines the Roadrunner's classic Detroit muscle car body with the new-age technology belonging to a 2008 Dodge Charger SRT-8 that took the crew at West Coast Classic, north of Weeki Wachee, more than 20 weeks to complete. Surrounded by family members and well-wishers from Hernando County's gear-head community, as well as Tail Fins and Chrome TV show host Jake Jacobs, who stopped in for the unveiling, Olinger admired the finished product. "It's absolutely beautiful," said Olinger, 65, of Seminole. "It's hard to even imagine what it looked like before it got here." Two years ago, the car was not much more than a "rust bucket" that Olinger bought as a restoration project he hoped to do with his son, Brian, and grandson, Clayton. But while disassembling the car, he soon realized that it would take more time to complete than he wanted to spend. Enter Dave Rodriguez, a Brooksville native who has been restoring classic General Motor muscle cars from the 1960s and 1970s, and who launched a classic car parts shop on U.S. 19 in 2009. Rodriguez suggested to Olinger that he scrap the restoration plan and instead look into a ground-up rebuild with attention to modernizing the car to make it more fuel efficient, safer and ultimately more enjoyable to drive. "Most muscle cars of that era had lots of power but weren't very comfortable to ride in," Rodriguez said. "We thought we could come up with something that would be the best of both worlds." Rodriguez and his staff began the project by cutting away everything on the Roadrunner but its roof and fire wall. The chassis from the Charger, which was bought used after it had been damaged in a wreck, had to be shortened 4 inches to make it fit the Roadrunner's original dimensions. From there, things got more challenging. Sections of the Dodge's stock interior had to be trimmed in order to fit the Roadrunner's bodywork. Special concessions had to be made to relocate things such as suspension mounts, the radiator and the fuel access door. During the restoration process, Rodriguez kept fans of the one-of-a-kind vehicle informed of its progress through regular Facebook updates. "It became a labor of love for the guys in the shop," he said. "This isn't the kind of thing they get to do every day." Because work on the Roadrunner hasn't been completed, the total cost of the restoration hasn't been calculated. However, West Coast Classic shop manager Mark Morgeson estimated that Olinger will probably spend in excess of $85,000 before all is said and done. Olinger said he plans to take the car to car shows around the state, so that other car enthusiasts can admire it. "I'm very proud of it," he said, "and I can hardly wait to show people the kind fantastic work these guys do here." Logan Neill can be reached at lneill@tampabay.com or (352) 848-1435. – A tragic accident occurred Friday evening around 6:20 pm on US-19 resulting in the death of a 20-year-old woman from Spring Hill The woman was driving a Kia K5 northbound on US-19 when she lost control of the vehicle north of SR-50 Read: Florida Woman Files Lawsuit After Alleged Salmonella Infection From Cucumbers The impact propelled the vehicle through the parking lot of the Animal Care Center Weeki Wachee before finally coming to a stop in the nearby woods Read: Hernando County Sheriff’s Office Needs Your Help Finding Absconded Sexual Offender Emergency responders transported the critically injured driver to a local hospital where she tragically succumbed to her injuries Authorities are currently investigating the cause of the crash Please make a small donation to the Tampa Free Press to help sustain independent journalism Your contribution enables us to continue delivering high-quality Android Users: Download our free app to stay up-to-date on the latest news Connect with us: Follow the Tampa Free Press on Facebook and Twitter for breaking news and updates Sign up: Subscribe to our free newsletter for a curated selection of top stories delivered straight to your inbox.