2024 Heritage Lecture Series presents: “Weeki Wachee: City of Mermaids!”
When Newt Perry sank a theater into the edge of Weeki Wachee Springs in 1947, he had no idea his mermaids would become world-famous Florida icons. This presentation covers the fascinating history of Weeki Wachee Springs told through vintage photographs of the resident “mermaids” from their earliest days performing silent ballets to their pinnacle of popularity when ABC built them a million-dollar theater.
Lu Vickers earned a doctorate in creative writing from Florida State University and currently teaches English at Tallahassee Community College. She was awarded a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship for fiction as well as two Florida Book Awards and three Florida Individuals Artists Fellowships. In addition to writing Remembering Paradise Park with C. Graham, she has written Breathing Underwater, a novel, and three other Florida history books: Weeki Wachee, City of Mermaids, Cypress Gardens, America’s Tropical Wonderland, and, Weeki Wachee, Thirty Years of Underwater Photography.
Thursday, December 5th, 2024.
St. Paul’s Historic Parish Hall, 188 South Swinton Avenue. Free parking.
6:00pm Social with refreshments; 6:30pm Lecture & Q&Q
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