Mermaids make a splash in San Marcos during annual festival and street faire

Kevin Baxter | Staff Reporter

SAN MARCOS – On Saturday, September 25, the Mermaid Society held their annual Mermaid Capital of Texas Festival around the town square. It started at 10 a.m. with a parade that led to the Hays County Courthouse. The celebration continued with a Street Faire featuring local artisans, shops, food vendors, and live music.

The Mermaid Promenade started at 10 a.m. with local businesses, politicians, and organizations participating. All the organizations that participated in the parade had some take on “Mermaids and Heroes.” Atlas Environmental TX showcased their sculptures built from trash collected from the San Marcos River.

Emily Haes attended the festival in a mermaid costume, showcasing her passion for the Mermaid Society and river preservation.

“What the mermaid society really means for me is conservation of the river, so to bring awareness of our beautiful river,” said Haes. “Like please don’t use one-time-use things like glitter and sequins and throw them in the air and pollute our river. So bringing awareness to our beautiful river that draws everyone here. That’s why I came to school here, and I’m sure that’s why a lot of other people did as well. So to me, that’s what it’s for. Raising awareness for our beautiful river, keeping it open to the public where we can all enjoy it.”

She also said she attends every year. Her sister, Melissa, just painted a mural outside the Mermaid Society at Wonder World Park.

Haes said she was most excited about seeing the large turnout of local merchants that joined the celebration.

“So I think all the local artisans, I love to come see what everyone’s making,” said Haes. “Of course, it’s mermaid-themed, so I have got to go find some jellyfish earrings or something to celebrate Mermaid Fest!”

Several artisans at the Street Faire embraced the celebration and were selling art, jewelry, and other mermaid-themed items.

“If you haven’t been able to come out, come on out. It’s so much fun, there’s music, and the parade is always something great to see,” said Haes.

After the parade, the community that attended enjoyed the festival, which took place around the courthouse, including booths from local businesses like Springtown Roasters.

Springtown Roasters is a local coffee roaster in San Marcos. At the festival, they were selling their coffee on the corner of Hopkins and N LBJ. It was their first time at the Mermaid Festival. Their coffee is sold in shops around San Marcos like Cornucopia and Radish & Dill. It is also available on drip at the Coffee Bar, which was right across the street from their booth.

They sell their coffee online and set up shops at the farmers’ markets in Kerrville, Lockhart, and Buda.

Michelle Busemey of Springtown Roasters was asked about how she’s been enjoying the festival so far.

“This festival has been amazing,” said Busemey. “There are so many people, with mermaids hopping around. All of San Marcos came out for this; it has just been spectacular.”

Busemey also spoke on how Springtown Roasters gives back to the community.

“We donate back a lot of our proceeds to the San Marcos River Foundation, to the Texas Veterans Commission, and the Greater San Marcos Youth Council,” said Busemey.

Down Hopkins Street, Guillermo “Austin Flagman” Olmedo and “Bubble Lady” entertained passersby and lifted their moods with smiley flags and bubbles. They had both been in the parade earlier as part of the bubble section.

Flagman was sitting on the corner giving singing bowl lessons to those interested. He seemed to be enjoying the festival when asked about his thoughts.

“It’s been awesome; we were in the parade earlier,” said Flagman. “This is my first time checking it out. I’m with Bubble Lady, she does the bubbles, and I make the smiley flags. We have the smiley flag all over Austin and everywhere else- wherever I can remind people to smile and focus on the good.”

Flagman said he liked the high energy and community involvement throughout the parade.

“Honestly, it’s really cool to meet different people and see them get excited about the flag,” said Flagman. “And we had somebody come in, they were watching the parade, and they just like joined us and started pulling the (bubble) cart for us. So yeah, we had an extra helper that we definitely needed. It was just really cool; the energy was great.”

The festival went on until 8 p.m. Many people came out to enjoy the music, costumes, art, and artisans that made up the Mermaid Festival throughout the day. It seemed like everyone was excited for next year’s festival celebrating the Mermaid Capital of Texas.

A correction was made to this article to provide proper credit to the Mermaid Society.