Mermaids and pirates wash up in St. Joe
It all started about a year ago when a Wewahitchka graduate, experienced with organizing events, met a mermaid named Iris.
“I looked at her and I was like ‘Wait a minute, we should do a mermaid festival,’” said Ellen Gortt, event organizer for Saturday’s Mermaid Bay Festival in George Core Park in Port St. Joe. “I know this area well and I thought it would do well. So we just got started working on it and this is it today.”
The event saw large crowds show out not even an hour into starting the festivities, which played host to a variety of family activities such as meeting mermaids and pirates, listening to live music, and enjoying crafts, food vendors, and more.
Mermaids ventured from near and far to meet with eventgoers. Mermaid Iris and Storm Siren Mermaid, two athletes representing Triton’s Cove, which is the U.S. Mermaid Team, posed for photos with visitors. The team recently competed in Switzerland for the 2024 Merlympics, which features events that include stomach and back undulations; front and back flip underwater spins; posing underwater; rescuing and towing mannequins from the water; and collecting waste from the bottom of the water.
Iris, who connected with Gortt through doing multiple events together, said “you can really tell that she sunk her soul into making sure (the festival) went off. She’s been stressing out all week about it.
“This is better than anything I could have imagined. I have never seen so many cute little faces so excited to see the mermaids,” Iris said.
The Crew of Enchanted Seas, a 50-person mermaid group that helps non-profit organizations raise funds for charity, brought some of their crew out, led by President Sheri Miller.
“Any good cause that wants us to come help, we come help.” she said. “We’re here at the festival just hanging out and being here for the community, trying to get this started since it’s the first annual attempt. We’re excited.”
Hailey Lambeth, better known as Mermaid Hailey, joined Miller’s crew of mermaids and mermen in between working as part of the festival staff and taking photos. “We’re actually absorbing her. We’re making her an honorary member of our crew today and we’re recruiting her.” said Miller.
The Pirates Of The White Sands, from Panama City, led by their fearless Captain Ransom King Mayhem, joined in the merriment. The pirates parked their parade float ship on the grounds and set up the main stage in front for showcasing performances from Tracy Mick, The Parvanas, The Lucky Tinkers, and The Forgotten Coast Dancing Witches.
Michelle McRea, better known as Master Mayhem, caught wind of the event on social media. “I saw the posting for the Mermaid Bay Festival, saw it was a first time event, saw it as an opportunity to not only grow our brand but support outside communities so I reached out and here we are,” she said.
Mermaid Ashley, a Georgian who regularly visits her family living in Gulf County, helped CareerSource of Gulf County spread the word about their upcoming youth summer program, alongside Kodi Linton, CareerSource’s Gulf County special projects coordinator.
They hosted a large coloring mural for children. “I love the coloring mural.” exclaimed Iris, as she admired the mural from their booth across the field.
Linton, a close friend of Gortt, played a helping hand in the events organization. “I got her in contact with my mermaid and the mermaid had contact with pirates and it all just came together and turned into this fabulous event,” she said.
Many booths, lined up along the park, offered games, obstacle courses, and educational experiences. Vyvy Dao, owner of Your #1 Fan LLC and one of the event’s sponsors, offered a kids activity where they could color handheld fans, along with selling her own assortment of hand-made crafts.
“I’ve been doing engineering and this is a way for me to combine my technical brain with my art side and so I do all of my own art, or I hire and commission other local artists.” Dao said. “We print everything onto the fans and it’s really high quality ultraviolet ink so it glows in black light. I try to do 3D things, things that pop out, educational stuff for kids.”
Dao and Gortt became friends doing events together in the Panama City area. “When she told me about this, she was a little bit nervous but I was so excited to hear about it and I kept encouraging her,” said Dao. “(I told her) ‘You need to do it. It’s what the community wants and needs.’ She has blown it out of the park. To see how far she’s come with it, I’m just so proud of her.”
Gortt organized the event with the intent of giving back to her community. “We really want our festival to benefit children in the area, whether that’s local Summer programs or just fun events for families that are here local. That’s the goal” said Gortt.
Meet the Editor
David Adlerstein, The Apalachicola Times’ digital editor, started with the news outlet in January 2002 as a reporter.
Prior to then, David Adlerstein began as a newspaperman with a small Boston weekly, after graduating magna cum laude from Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. He later edited the weekly Bellville Times, and as business reporter for the daily Marion Star, both not far from his hometown of Columbus, Ohio.
In 1995, he moved to South Florida, and worked as a business reporter and editor of Medical Business newspaper. In Jan. 2002, he began with the Apalachicola Times, first as reporter and later as editor, and in Oct. 2020, also began editing the Port St. Joe Star.