Some who love the water are getting mer out of life
PUEBLO» Some children want to be astronauts when they grow up. Some want to be firefighters or police. Others teachers or doctors.
Not Pixy Wright. She wanted to be a mermaid.
“When I was 4, I became obsessed with mermaids,” she said. “Every career day, everyone would say they wanted to be a cop or a fireman or a ballerina. I would say I wanted to be a mermaid.”
She kept the dream alive through middle school, high school and college.
Now, she has a tail, and swims in a pod of like-minded mermaids and a merman.
“In 2011 I was talking to the right friend at the right time,” Wright said. “Then, on my birthday that year, I got a tail in the mail as a gift, and it just kind of took off from there.”
Mermaid’s Lagoon was born in 2012, and since then, more than 45 guys and gals have donned tails and traveled to Renaissance festivals, fairs and other venues.
In addition to Wright, the current team has mermaids Camber Mauth, Jaclyn Gutierrez, Maggie Aranda, Alex Hasui, Michaela Lange and Cynthia Bloodworth, and merman Dakota Renz.
Joining them are three pirates: Stix Mauth, Bill Wright and Dan Crum.
The group practices Tuesdays at the Colorado State University at Pueblo pool.
Wright’s obsession with mermaids began after seeing Steven Spielberg’s film “Splash.” Seeing Daryl Hannah rock a tail in the film was proof enough Wright could be a mermaid.
“People kept saying, ‘This isn’t real, this isn’t real,’ ” Wright said. “I would argue, ‘It is real, it’s right there.’ ”
Her love of mermaids and her passion to become one continued to grow.
After she got her first tail, Wright began getting friends at work involved.
When Mermaid’s Lagoon began, a worldwide mermaid craze was taking place, spurring the company to appear at festivals and events across the U.S.
“We went to New Orleans, did a two-month show there as mermaids and it just created a pandemic,” Wright said. “There’s mers all across the world. It’s become a fitness craze. There’s actually mer schools across the nation.
“We just happened to catch the front wave of it.”
They’ve gone to the Texarkana Renaissance Faire in Arkansas, festivals in Texas and New Jersey and the Renaissance Festival in Larkspur.
Wright said she hopes to someday own land and put together a Renaissance festival of her own.
She also hopes to travel beyond the United States.
“We have big dreams,” she said. “We’re little fish in a big pond. Hopefully someday we’ll have 40 acres, and hopefully we can do some international travel.”
To become a mermaid, a man or woman must be a comfortable swimmer.
Next, they must strap Plexiglas and duct tape to their feet and learn the basics of what happens when they have a fin on. Next, they wear flippers. Finally, they put on the tail. When they can swim in a tail, they’re a mer.
“That’s all it takes,” Wright said. “There’s no prerequisite. It’s for everybody. It can take anywhere from a month of practicing once a week to six months.”
There’s no body shaming, no racial or age prejudice. A person’s background is moot when it comes to making a splash as a merperson.
And, once you’re part of the pod, you’re family.
“The team is really good about taking people in and showing them techniques and taking them under their wings,” Wright said. “We really do work as a team. You come ... you swim.
“The more the merrier.”