The group boasts 20 merpeople, two men and 18 women, all volunteers. The members range in age from 23 to 76, but it’s another facet of the group’s diversity that attracted many of them.
The lake is the closest notable body of water, so the name still works, she said. Besides, she noted, the group spends about 95% of their time “dry.”
“You can be small, big, tall, disabled,” Braithwaite said. “When I first got into this pod, I didn’t know of any other pods that allowed people who were plus size.” The Mermaids of the Great Salt Lake are fans of Disney’s take on the Hans Christian Andersen tale. On a June afternoon gathered in a backyard pool, the group members have the cast recording of the 2008 Broadway production of “The Little Mermaid” playing in the background.
Jodi Bingham, who calls herself Princess Pearl, mentioned a mermaid interviewed on the show who said she was disappointed about living in a landlocked state, performing at kids parties rather than being in a big performing pod near the sea. Allen said that B.B. Big Blue’s “mersona” is that of a guardian. “I’m an open-ocean mermaid that travels with turtles and whales,” she said, adding that she tells children about the dangers of ghost nets — abandoned fishing nets that snag on reefs and shipwrecks, and can catch, injure and kill marine creatures. Such nets, she said, are “a really bad issue in the open ocean.”
Nancy Doxtator, a wise mermaid who goes by Saorirse said, “Most of us, when we do tell stories, we tell about what area [of] the ocean or sea we come from, and the tales that are told about the mermaids in this area, and how they became mermaids.” When they’re in the water, Anderson said, they’re separated from the people. “There are some times where you can just sit there and they don’t expect the tails to move,” she said, mimicking a child’s gasp of surprise. “You can just wiggle your feet in the monofin enough to make it look organic. It just makes them smile. … I love it when you can make the magic happen.”, a craftsman featured on the Netflix show who makes exquisite tails.
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