Okay, everyone. You’ll recall that last time I’d just gotten us finished with our most recent trip to New Mexico. You’d have thought that after that adventure, we’d settle down for a bit. But, nooo. That would have been way too easy.
Well, actually, we did take a few weeks off. But, then, one day, Martha came to me and said, “We need to visit San Marcos.”
“San,” I said, “Marcos?”
“San, as you say, Marcos,” she replied.
“And this San...San...whosits?”
“Marcos,” she supplied.
“...is where?” I continued, getting to the heart of the matter.
“South,” she said. “And West. Or North and East, depending on where you start.”
“Right,” I said. Glad to get that straightened out. “And what is...uh...in San Marcos? That we want to see?”
“Mermaids.”
“Mermaids?”
“Mermaids.”
“As in ladies with fishtails?”
“And scales, yes. And they hang around marine rocks a lot. And commune with Squid. And Davie Jones.”
“Got it...” I said, relieved to know that there was an explanation for everything.
Okay...here’s the real story with a little bit more detail. San Marcos is a city about sixty miles south of us here in Georgetown, Texas. It has a population of, give or take, about 70K. It’s considered part of the Greater Austin-area, and is growing nicely due to that other city’s phenomenal (and relentless) growth. (1)
It also has...once a year...in September...the Mermaid Festival and Parade.(2)
No. Really.
About the pictures: Two today. The first one is, well, not real. Or rather, half of it isn’t and the other half is. I took a photo of Martha and then tried the new “generative fill” function in Adobe Photoshop to give her part of a mermaid costume. (Originally, I was going to have a mermaid sitting in the chair next to her. But Adobe’s too vigilant censor wouldn’t let me.)
Now, if, per chance, you should glance at a map, you may wonder a bit about a Mermaid Festival in San Marcos. That is because, as you peruse the map, you will notice that it is landlocked town. It is, in other words, miles...and miles...and MILES from the sea. About 160 miles, to be precise. It is, in fact, in the midst of landscape composed chiefly of tumbleweed, prairie, and rocky hills. It is, in other words, in Central...goshdarn...Texas.
So, unless the mermaids learned to drive pickup trucks (no easy thing when you’ve got fins for feet. There’s the little issue of braking), mermaids are going to have a little difficulty getting there.
Actually, it makes more sense than you might think. It turns out there is a serious connection between San Marcos and mermaids. I’ll explain why shortly. But, for the moment, just assume there is. And just assume, further, that each year the town hosts a parade dedicated to them, and at the parade, many, many women and girls...and few boys and young men...dress up as marine life and travel through the city on floats and trucks and other means of fishy conveyance.
And Martha had learned about the parade because a friend of hers had gone and taken her young grandson and he had really, really enjoyed it. And the whole thing had sounded cute, and fun, and funky to Martha...who loves stuff like that, particularly when its “real,” that is, when it is a real celebration, genuinely celebrated by a community as a whole, and not some sort of manufactured marketing event.
Which explains, I trust, how it was a short time later...specifically, on Friday, September 22, 2023, we were on our way...flying down Texas Highway 130 ...a.k.a., “The Pickle Parkway”(3)...headed to a rendezvous with destiny...
And mermaids...
...in San Marcos.
More to come.
Second, a snap of Martha in a cafe in San Marcos.
Footnotes
1. For more on San Marcos, see its Wikipedia entry here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Marcos,_Texas
2. I’ll be posting a good many links to webpages that deal with the Mermaid parade and Festival, but in the short term, here are some good ones:
Mermaid Capital of Texas Fest: https://www.visitsanmarcos.com/events/annual-events-and-festivals/mermaid-festival/
Mermaid Society of Texas: https://splash.mermaidsocietysmtx.com/
The Weird and Wonderful Connection Between Mermaids and San Marcos, Texas: https://www.visitsanmarcos.com/blog/post/the-weird-and-wonderful-connection-between-mermaids-and-san-marcos-texas/
3. Yes. The Pickle Parkway. Named after former United States Congressman J.J. "Jake" Pickle. See here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_State_Highway_130
Copyright©2024 Michael Jay Tucker
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