ELVIS AND THE MERMAIDS.

WEEKI WACHEE SPRINGS PARK.

30/07/1961 – Florida.

On Sunday afternoon, July 30, 1961, Elvis appeared at Weeki Wachee Springs Park in Florida, on the west coast where he was filming “Follow That Dream“.

There thousands of fans were waiting for him.

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Colonel Parker interrupted the filming of Elvis’ feature film “Follow That Dream” and prepared a great media expectation with this visit to the park, which Elvis was going to make.

Elvis, along with his movie partner Anne Helm, visited the Weeki Wachee Springs water park in Florida, and its main attraction: a colorful and beautiful underwater show with “real” Mermaids.

In the early 1950s, this attraction became a popular tourist attraction. The glory days began in 1959 after American Broadcasting Co. (ABC) took over the attraction. The new owner built a magnificent 500-seat underwater theater. Mermaids performed pieces such as “Alice in Wonderland,” “The Wizard of Oz” or “Peter Pan.”

Hollywood also used this water park for several film projects.

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Even today, the park is still a very popular attraction and is a spectacle to spend an extraordinary day.

In the video you can see Elvis at the park meeting with some of the 3,000 fans who camped out to see him.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkzOsKz-fK8]

These beautiful girls acted as Mermaids and put on an amazing underwater show for Elvis.

Vicky Smith, one of the Mermaids, remembers the day Elvis visited Weeki Wachee:

“There have been Elvis sightings all over the world,” she said, “but not like the one that took place in the Tampa Bay area 60 years ago. That’s when “The King” met The Weeki Wachee Mermaids.

It happened on July 30, 1961.

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Vicki Smith remembers the day like it was yesterday. “Elvis Presley came to Weeki Wachee. He could have gone anywhere. But he came to Weeki Wachee,” she said.

The event attracted about 3,000 fans who screamed their heads off to see Elvis .

But Vicky wasn’t there just for Elvis. She was there to put on her bathing suit and slip on her fishtail, transformed into a mermaid and perform in front of him.

“He was so handsome and was a total, supreme Southern gentleman. He had each of us come up and introduced us to his latest LP!…. He gave me his autograph and signed, “Best wishes to Vicki. Elvis Presley,” he recalled.

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Vicky is Weeki Wachee’s oldest artist. And she says it’s something she’s very proud of, and she’s also proud to have lived that beautiful story of that special day in her life with Elvis.

“I always tell the audience before every show that I swam for Elvis Presley and he was so cute – but so was I in 1961!“