Anderson said she had already made some of the repairs that Swiftmud requested -- shoring up rotting beams at the Mermaid Gallery restaurant, for example -- but she is holding off on others: The county fire marshal told her the mermaid theater had enough fire exits, she said, and she does not want to connect the park's sewage system to the county's until the busy season ends.
The city plans to ask Swiftmud if part of the lease payments can go to repairs -- "We have to help each other out here," Anderson said.
But she and other park devotees are also coming up with ideas for generating income. Anderson wants to expand the kiddie pool at the Buccaneer Bay water park that earns Weeki Wachee most of its money, and perhaps create a second mermaid show, with new costumes and choreography.
Wynns, the former mermaid, believes Weeki Wachee can go even further: Why not put on bathing-suit fashion shows in the mermaid tank, bus tourists the 142km from Disney World, even have a mermaid circulate through the park, like Mickey, Minnie and Goofy?
Among other things, Wynns would like to see the algae -- "scrunge" to the mermaids -- removed.
"We had silky white sand and emerald eelgrass, and when the bubbles stood on it they looked like diamonds," she said wistfully. "I believe we can make this place magic again, with the right money."
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