Central Point, Ore.– An underwater trend is making a splash right here in Southern Oregon. Mermaiding, the art of swimming with a realistic looking tail, is now being offered at a local pool and the instructor says classes are going swimmingly.
“Every year for Christmas I was going, ‘I want to be a mermaid!'”
Sam Newtown grew up with a love for the water.
“There is a feeling of freedom from being in the water,” she says.
A career swimmer herself, she’s been teaching kids how to perfect their strokes at Rogue Aquatics in Central Point for almost a decade now. Now a new trend is splashing into kid’s imaginations. Mermaiding.
“I knew the kids would love it, but partially just because I wanted my own tail,” Sam says.
While sitting on the pool’s edge, she slips on a realistic green, scaly mermaid tail called a skin. Then a simple attachment of a mono-fin to her feet and the skin stretches over it, producing a real life, functional mermaid’s tail.
When she first approached her boss, Rogue Aquatics owner Cathy Zuk, it took some convincing.
“She wanted to do this for like year I have to tell you,” Zuk says.
After thorough research, impressive sales of mermaid tales in the front shop, and an overwhelming amount of interest from students. Sam’s Discover Mermaiding classes have been a big success that looks to have a long future in Southern Oregon.
“Every little girl wants to be a mermaid,” Zuk says.
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