Title: The Last Mermaid Show - The New York Times
Headings: The Last Mermaid Show
The Last Mermaid Show
This Is What Real-Life Mermaids Look Like

Content: We were desperate,” Anderson says. At various points, she and Athanason tried shopping a reality show and brought in Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie to film an episode of “The Simple Life 2” at Weeki Wachee. In 2008, several years after the attraction was given to the city of Weeki Wachee by the last in a succession of owners, Anderson and the rest of the city management decided to donate it to the state of Florida, converting it into Weeki Wachee Springs State Park. Suddenly the “mermaids” were state employees. With government support, as well as money raised by a nonprofit called “Friends of Weeki Wachee,” the park was able to put on a fresh coat of paint and hire more employees. ( Today there are 21 female and 3 male performers.) Weeki Wachee and the state-parks department weren’t a likely match. Early on, Anderson found herself having to explain purchases of things like bikini tops, tails and makeup to officials used to covering the cost of trail markers and trash cans. The state’s goal is to preserve the spring and the river, and it’s debatable how much the show aids in those environmental conservation efforts. “ I would like to see it all focused on the girls, but it’s not — it’s not neglect, it’s just not the focus,” says Barbara Wynns, who performed at Weeki Wachee from 1967 to 1969 and again from 1972 to 1975, and now serves as the park’s main volunteer and unofficial ambassador. “