LECANTO, Fla. — Eric Ducharme "fell in love with mermaids" when he was just five years old.
"One day, I said I was going to open up my own mermaid show," said the Citrus County native.
True to his underwater dream, Ducharme recently opened Mertailor's Mermaid Aquarium Encounter in Lecanto, a roadside attraction featuring a big beautiful mermaid show.
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But this merman is also the mertailor in the title.
"For the past 20 years, I've been manufacturing and producing mermaid tails for customers all around the world," he said.
The front of the attraction features a small but impressive aquarium housing sharks, rays, and many rescue pets. There's also that 15,000-gallon saltwater mermaid performance tank.
In the back of the property is his mermaid-tail manufacturing plant and an entire staff of artisans.
"So I actually was not the biggest fan of Disney's Little Mermaid, believe it or not," said Ducharme, who was just featured on a Netflix miniseries called "MerPeople." "I've always been more into realism, people more than cartoons."
For ticket information, hours, directions, and more to Mertailor's Mermaid Aquarium Encounter, click here.
