Swimming mermaids from all over the globe converged in Las Vegas the first weekend in August to splash, giggle, compare tails and lure unsuspecting sailors to their doom at the first annual World Mermaid Awards. This was a once-in-a-lifetime experience and I loved every minute.
We arrived at the Silverton Resort on Friday when the convention was in full swing. We were a little late.. after snooping all around the Silverton and getting distracted by its huge mermaid tank, we finally wandered into the convention as the Mermaid Pageant was about halfway through.. in other words, all the boring stuff was over, and the Mermaid Tail Parade was about to begin. I wriggled right into my tail and seashells, and flopped right up onto the stage.
There were so many beautiful costumes! There were probably 20-30 mermaids, two mermen, and a whole school of mer-babies and mer-children, who were absolutely in seventh heaven.
I was in awe of the super realistic latex and silicone tails that were represented, and even more excited by the beautiful and unique handmade tails. All so different.. all so fantastic and delightful.. and completely inspiring. My tail received its share of compliments (it was one of the fanciest of the handmade tails, with its multi-layered fins and sparkly sequins).. and now that I am home again I'm hatching all kinds of schemes to make it even fancier, sparklier, and more realistic. :) The Fire Pixie mermaid tail continues to evolve!
It was a joy to connect with other like-minded merfolk from around the country, and "geek out" about neoprene vs. latex, brands of monofins, and seashell bra construction. Somehow it's just magical to meet other people who are just as crazy as I am, spending weeks and months of their lives on something as ephemeral as a costume.. getting the scales and the fit just right, choosing colors and materials, all in order to find ways to transform our spirits into something more than just human.
The pageant was fun, but the pool party was truly the highlight of the evening. Hannah Mermaid and MeduSirena Mermaid did some fire performance at the pool side, which was delightful to watch (although desperately confusing to my fantasy aesthetic - how on earth would a mermaid ever encounter enough fire to learn to perform with it? But we now have so many ideas for a Fire Pixie Mermaid show complete with pirates, fire performance and partner acrobatics..so check back soon). Twig the Fairy was there in a gorgeous golden tail (and I was too startstruck to swim up to her and start a conversation! Twig is my hero) We swam, we giggled, we networked, and we delighted in each others' company.. how many times in my life will I have the pleasure of swimming with so many mermaids? It was a magical night.
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