CRYSTAL RIVER – A Florida man is drawing crowds and notoriety for his regular swims as a merman in Crystal River, and has created a whole cottage industry with his Mertailor mermaid suits.
Entrepreneur Eric Ducharme, who appears on TLC’s Crazy Obsession show, takes free swims in Crystal River, which is known for its clear water and manatees.
He started Mertailor LLC (photo of Mertailor at right from their Facebook) in 2006, when he was just 16 years old and performing as the prince in Weeki Wachee Springs Little Mermaid show. He has made hand-painted custom mermaid tails for places and celebrites like Lady Gaga, RuPaul, Target and Saturday Night Live.
London’s Daily Mail profiled Ducharme online; the story says he runs his own business called Mertailor that manufactures custom-made tails from silicone, urethanes, and latex.
Crystal River is just down the road from Weeki Wachee, which is Florida’s famous home of mermaids.
Visit his Facebook here.
Below, a You Tube showing the tails; you can follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Mertailor.
