Weeki Wachee Mermaids

Posted on by Thor

Pam Schwartz and I spent a weekend out by Weeki Wachee. We found a motel with a dock right on one of the streams that flow from the spring. We brought along two kayaks and explored the waterways the first day. It was plenty busy at the start of the trip with people swinging off of ropes and splashing into the crystal clear water. As we paddled further on the crowds thinned and the old native Florida habitat took over.

The next day we made our way into the Weeki Wachee Srings State Park (6131 Commercial Way, Spring Hill, FL 34606). “Weeki Wachee” was named by the Seminole Indians. It means “little
spring” or “winding river.” The spring is so deep that the bottom has
never been found. Each day, more than 117 million gallons of clear,
fresh, 74-degree water bubbles up out of the subterranean caverns.

In
1946, Newton Perry, a former U.S. Navy man who trained Navy Frogmen
to swim underwater in World War II, scouted out Weeki Wachee as a good
site for a new business. In 1947, the first show at the Weeki Wachee
Springs underwater theater opened. In the 1950s, Weeki Wachee was one of
the nation’s most popular tourist
stops. The attraction received worldwide acclaim. Movies were filmed at
the spring, like Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid.

Of course we had to see the Mermaid Show. Women with air hoses acted as the mermaids and performed such astonishing stunts like drinking a bottle of Coke under water. I do have to admire their calm demeanor as they dove further down than I have ever tried. They were always smiling while waiting for their next breath of air from a hose. The best mermaids made the hose seem unnecessary. The shows climax came with a stirring tribute to the American flag which rose up behind the mermaids in the water.

The rest of our day was spent in Buccaneer Bay which had some steep water slides. The line up the wooden staircase was excruciatingly long. And the slide was terrifying, but over in a split second. The bay itself was relaxing, but we did see a woman slip on the cement ledge and fall – first hitting the cement and then falling in the water. Someone helped get her out of the water and life guards revived her. I then lost sight of her and don’t know if she left or was taken for further treatment. The lazy river tubes were my favorite way to stay cool and relax.

Now that school has started for most kids, the lazy river and water slides are closed Monday through Friday.

Orange County Regional History Center Auction

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The Orange County Regional History Center is getting a major redesign in the next few years with modern digital interactive displays and is basically being overhauled from head to toe to improve the experience. Several months ago the large ceiling mounted display in the lobby was dismantled. Alligators, manatees, huge mosquitoes, and other Central Florida flora and fauna came down. The manatees were sitting in the loading bay for the longest time.

The History Center decided to hold an auction to sell off items from the old displays to help raise money for the multi-million dollar renovations and improvements they are planning. This was a sketch opportunity I could not miss. The room was packed when The History Center’s chief curator, Pam Schwartz, and I arrived. I immediately tucked myself away behind some tables set up to hold items in the auction. To my right was a large steam engine train. To my left was a Conestoga wagon, some camping vehicles, a mermaid, some mastodon tusks, and a model of a theme park water slide.

I had seen this auctioneer in action before, he was highly polished and kept the action lively. The bidding was fast and furious. In the aisles were people who would yelp whenever someone bid. The guy closest to me had a thick New York accent and he was hilarious and gracious. The lots wold be sold as groupings, for instance, if you wanted a manatee you needed to buy three manatees. If you wanted a pink flamingo, you would have to buy 5 flamingos. The museum for some reason had quite a few antique toy robots. The cheapest item of the day was a set of golf clubs in a bag for only a dollar. Patty Sheehan bought a hilarious looking green frog wearing a crown modeled after a character at Weeki Wachee Springs State Park. Brendan O’Connor brought home an antique robot.

After the bidding on the larger items, everyone who was left gathered at a back table to bit on smaller items. It was fun to watch as people struggled to take home the large items purchased. A wife scolded her husband for trying to carry a five foot model space shuttle all on his own. The women who brought the manatees, gators, and some large metal leaves were planning to create a Florida themed back yard pool area. The leaves would function as decorative access block for an outdoor shower. She and her partner were just out running errands at 7-11 when they decided to go to the auction.  Having never been to an auction before they were surprised with all they brought home.

As a fundraiser the auction turned out to be a huge success. Pam pitched the idea as a joke at one of the meetings since they thought most of the items should have been thrown out. Now they are being tenderly refurbished by their new owners. Two large Corinthian columns and the 4 foot high flamingos remained behind as the auction space quieted down. People must have planned to pick these items up later when they had a large enough truck to transport them.

Western Way

Posted on by Thor

The Western Way Shopping Center sign is located on West Colonial Drive a block west of North Tampa Avenue. A big Department of Motor Vehicles building is right up the block. The sign hearkens back to a time when Colonial Drive was the main road to get from cost to coast. Colonial Drive (State Route 50) runs throughout Central Florida, from
Weeki Wachee on the west coast, to Titusville on the east. The highway
is called by different names in different regions, such as Cortez
Boulevard in Hernando County and Colonial Drive in much of Orange
County. Parts of the highway east of 436 (Semoran Boulevard) follow the Old Cheney Highway, the original road that ran from Orlando to
Titusville. I’ve driven Colonial all the way to the west coast of Florida, and it is a step back in time sprinkled with plenty of old Florida towns and long stretches of rural cattle farms and citrus groves. In 1955 the Western Way Shopping Center on West Colonial
Drive opened with Moses Pharmacy and Landis Stone’s Hardware Store as
anchor tenants.

Excerpt from From the Florida sand to the City Beautiful: A Historical Record of Orlando, Florida,
by E.H. Gore, published in 1951: “Mr. Charles D. Sweet, a surveyor from
Louisiana, located in Orlando in 1873. He had traveled up and down the
Mississippi Valley and got a desire to see what Florida looked like.
When he arrived in Orlando, he liked it so well he decided to locate. He
surveyed part of the city when it was incorporated in 1875 and laid out
some of the streets. He wanted to make Gertrude Street a main
thoroughfare through Orlando but when the South Florida Railroad was
built in 1880, it followed through a large portion of that street. That
street was named for his sister Gertrude. He was elected to the board of
Aldermen in 1880 and served as mayor in 1881. He wanted to name the
streets running east and west after different mayors so started out with
Marks and Sweet streets, but some time later the name of Sweet Street
was changed to Colonial Drive. He was one of the pioneers who helped
change Orlando from a village to a city.”

There were maybe five or so pedestrians who walked by as I sketched. People tend to try and cross the four lanes of Colonial on foot to get to fast food restaurants or 7-11s. The Orlando-Kissimmee region was ranked as one of the most dangerous pedestrian regions in the country, with more than 550 pedestrians killed
from 2000 to 2009. This translates into 61 deaths a year or about one death every week. Colonial Drive alone has claimed 40 lives in the past five years. Colonial was a constant blur of speeding gas fumed traffic as I sketched. Were I to try and get to the Magic Mall across the street, I would have to risk life and limb. When I did leave I stepped into my steal box of a car for some form of protection before pulling out into the anger fueled traffic.

Weeki Wachee Mermaid Show

Posted on by Thor

Weeki Wachee is a crystal clear spring west of Orlando straight out 50 towards Tampa. The drive out slowly unveiled the true old Florida with tin roofed houses under huge Live Oaks and ancient pickups with just the right amount of rust. Weeki Wachee has been a unique roadside attraction for over 60 years. When it first opened, the mermaids had to stand roadside to try and attract visitors.

“Fish Tales” the underwater mermaid show was housed in a theater right beside the spring. The stadium seating sloped down to a huge arched glass wall that looked under water into the spring. A miniature castle was perched on the slope of the opposite wall of the spring. A girl rose from the depths and waved to the audience. A snorkeler held her air hose. As part of her “mermaid training” she had to swim straight down into the spring against the flow of water rushing upward. She held her breath the whole way. When she reached the bottom she tugged the air hose twice so the snorkeler could help bring her up. It was an unnerving demonstration of will and faith. She held her breath for over two minutes then did a graceful back flip to prove she was not in a rush for air.

When mermaids performed, turtles and fish would swim nearby. Sometimes a mermaid doing a somersault might bump her head on a turtles shell and she would gently push him away. The final number was a rousing underwater ballet to “Proud to be an American!” A Merman rose from the depths with an American flag as a cape. He spread his arms and grinned ear to ear. The show is campy and over the top fun.