Provides an entertaining history of one of Florida's oldest roadside attractions, Weeki Wachee Spring and its performing mermaids, that ranges from its development in 1947 to the present day, bringing together extensive archival research and interviews with dozens of mermaids and other park employees with 250 black-and-white and color photographs.

Mermaids are like leprechauns: its very hard to sneak up and catch a glimpse of one. But in a hamlet on the Gulf Coast of Florida, people have been able to do just that since 1947, when Newton Perry opened a small roadside attraction with an underwater theater. For nearly 60 years, live mermaids have been the unique focal point of Weeki Wachee Springs. Mysterious and enchanting, these young performers have done everything from teaching a class to typing a letter underwater. They are carefully trained, completely enthusiastic, and delightful to see. Wander through the pages of this book and meet the mermaids of Weeki Wachee in their magical underwater theater.

A focus on the photography and photographers that made Weeki Wachee Springs an iconic tourist destination of Florida.

It's a fresh start for Delores Walker when she boards a Greyhound bus bound for Florida. Leaving the Bronx far behind, she's headed for sunny Weeki Wachee Springs, frayed roadside attraction in danger of becoming obsolete with the opening of Walt Disney's latest creation, only miles up the road. Always more suited for a life underwater, Delores joins a group of other aquatic hopefuls in this City of Live Mermaids, where she discovers a world of sequined tails and amphibious theme shows that even Disney couldn't dream up. It's in this fantastic place of make-believe and reinvention that Delores Walker becomes Delores Taurus, Florida's most unlikely celebrity. Bringing together an eccentric assortment of outcasts, poseurs, and underdogs, this wise and poignant novel conjures up a time in America when anything was possible, especially in the Sunshine State. A story of family, chasing dreams and finding your way, Swim To Me will have you believing the impossible—even in mermaids from the Bronx.

Mermaids are like leprechauns: it's very hard to sneak up and catch a glimpse of one. But in a hamlet on the Gulf Coast of Florida, people have been able to do just that since 1947, when Newton Perry opened a small roadside attraction with an underwater theater. For nearly 60 years, live mermaids have been the unique focal point of Weeki Wachee Springs. Mysterious and enchanting, these young performers have done everything from teaching a class to typing a letter underwater. They are carefully trained, completely enthusiastic, and delightful to see. Wander through the pages of this book and meet the mermaids of Weeki Wachee in their magical underwater theater.

Answer the enchanting siren call of the mermaid with this comprehensive, lavishly illustrated and intricately designed one-of-a-kind lifestyle compendium from the editor in chief of Faerie Magazine and author of The Faerie Handbook and globally published novel Mermaid, packed with lore, legends, facts and trivia, beautiful illustrations, and numerous step-by-step projects and recipes. Beautiful, seductive, mysterious, and potentially dangerous, the mermaid is a global literary and pop culture icon whose roots date back to ancient sea goddesses and Greek mythology. From Homer’s Odyssey and Hans Christian Andersen’s fairytale The Little Mermaid to T.S. Eliot’s "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" and the Disney animated film The Little Mermaid, this sea vixen has long seduced popular imagination. Cosmetic companies have drawn inspiration for their makeup lines from mermaids, as have designers throughout fashion history, from Jean Patou to Jean Paul Gaultier and Alexander McQueen. The fishtail dress is a perennial long red-carpet staple, favored by the likes of Marion Cotillard, Sofia Vergara, and Blake Lively. Divided into four sections—Fashion and Beauty; Arts and Culture; Real Mermaids and Where to Find Them; and Food, Entertaining and Stories of the Sea—The Mermaid Handbook is a unique and sumptuous compilation filled with creative ideas for decorating and living inspired by these beauties from the deep. Learn to make a sailor’s valentine; a mermaid comb and crown; and a pearl and sequin paillette necklace. There are recipes for mermaid-themed poke bowls, aquatic-themed honey gingerbread cookies, and the official cocktail of the 1960s-era mermaid attraction Aquarama. Folklore expert Carolyn Turgeon also includes profiles of true modern mermaids, tail makers, and mermaid bars; visits mermaid attractions like Weeki Wachee Springs; and provides tips on getting beachy mermaid hair and creating an alluring eye.

A New York Times bestseller—a brilliantly funny exploration of the Sunshine State from the man who knows it best: Pulitzer Prize winner Dave Barry. We never know what will happen next in Florida. We know only that, any minute now, something will. Every few months, Dave Barry gets a call from some media person wanting to know, “What the hell is wrong with Florida?” Somehow, the state's acquired an image as a subtropical festival of stupid, and as a loyal Floridian, Dave begs to differ. Join him as he goes in hunt of the legendary Skunk Ape; hobnobs with the mermaids of Weeki Wachee Springs; and visits Cassadaga, the psychic capital of the world, to have his dog's aura read (apparently, she's "very spiritual"). Hitch a ride for the non-stop thrills of alligator-wrestling ("the gators display the same fighting spirit as a Barcalounger"), the hair-raising spectacle of a clothing-optional bar in Key West, and the manly manliness of the Machine Gun Experience in Miami. It's the most hilarious book yet from “the funniest damn writer in the whole country” (Carl Hiaasen, and he should know). By the end, you'll have to admit that whatever else you might think about Florida—you can never say it's boring.

WHEN ANGELS WEEP Two of the four shallow graves excavated on the Mansfield property held the remains of unidentified teenage girls. One is believed to be between the age of 12 and 16 and the second between 16 and 19. no one has come forward with any information to help detectives identify the two victims. After reading this book if you have any information as to the identity of the two teenagers please contact your local sheriff’s department or Detective Mike Nelson of the Hernando county Sheriff’s office at 1-352-754-6830 or e-mail to [email protected].

"Paradise Park was the "colored only'" counterpart to Silver Springs, a central Florida tourist attraction famous for its crystal-clear water and glass bottom boats. Together the two parks formed one of the biggest recreational facilities in the country before Disney World. From 1949 to 1969, boats passed each other on the Silver River--blacks on one side, whites on the other. Though the patrons of both parks shared the same river, they seldom crossed the invisible line in the water"--Jacket.

Quintessential roadside book recounts how Florida's natural wonders were first developed as tourist attractions.