The St. Louis Aquarium at Union Station this week has a new set of fins in its fish and shark tanks 鈥� mermaids.
From Wednesday through Sunday, two award-winning mermaids from Dallas, Lenisa Ann LaCourse and Scarlett Wolf, will swim with thousands of fish in two different exhibits.
It鈥檚 the first time the aquarium has hosted mermaids as part of its 鈥淪ummer of the Shark鈥� campaign to attract new audiences.
鈥淟ots of aquariums do this, but we've only been open for five years, so we're still trying new things, and this is one of them,鈥� said Tami Brown, executive director of the St. Louis Aquarium at Union Station. 鈥淲e really just wanted the opportunity to have these mermaids help bring a new audience in that maybe wouldn't come for sharks, but will come for mermaids.鈥�
LaCourse won Miss Mermaid USA in 2019, and Wolf has won Miss Mermaid Texas the past four years. Both will be available daily for meet-and-greets.
Attendees get to observe the finned beauties in two locations. The first is Grand Lobby Clock, a freshwater habitat that holds a little more than 10,000 gallons of water and features dozens of bright-colored Cichlids that are representative of fish from Lake Malawi in Africa.
The second one is the Shark Canyon exhibit, which holds 250,000 gallons and features seven different species of sharks, two sea turtles and three different kinds of stingrays.
St. Louis family blogger Jen Cowan and her 11-year-old daughter Hattie visited the Aquarium on Tuesday to watch the mermaids swim during a practice run. They were invited along with other social media influencers to get a first look at the mermaids to vlog on their page, which has over 20,000 followers, and other social media pages.
Hattie stood in front of the Grand Lobby Clock exhibit and watched one of the mermaids in awe. She said that she was excited to see them for the first time at the aquarium and that she comes there often.
鈥淚 like how (mermaids) are in most stories that I really enjoy, also in movies, like 鈥楾he Little Mermaid,鈥欌�� Cowan said.
Gia McCracken, of St. Louis, brought her 1-year-old son, Patrick, and her 3-year-old daughter, Olivia, to the Aquarium for a general visit to see fish at the aquarium on Tuesday.
Patrick and Olivia pointed and jumped up and down as mermaid Lenisa swam in the Shark Canyon exhibit, waved and blew kisses at them.
鈥淢ermaid, a mermaid!鈥� Olivia said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a mermaid, Momma!鈥�
McCracken said she didn鈥檛 believe her kids at first, but the mermaids were a welcome surprise. 鈥淲e just came for (Olivia鈥檚) birthday, she鈥檚 turning 3 today,鈥� McCracken said Tuesday. 鈥淥livia was like, 鈥極h a mermaid, a mermaid,鈥� and I didn鈥檛 think there really was, so that鈥檚 awesome, that really kind of made their day.鈥�
Nancy Milton, a spokesperson for the Aquarium, said the stingrays and sharks in the shark exhibit don鈥檛 pose a threat to the mermaids. She noted that renowned Australian zookeeper and conservationist Steve Irwin died due to a stingray injury.
鈥淭hese stingrays (at the St. Louis Aquarium) have had their stingers manicured, and they keep them filed down,鈥� Milton said. 鈥淭hey're also pretty gentle creatures.鈥�
City Museum to debut 鈥楲abyrinth鈥�
In addition to mermaids making a splash at the St. Louis Aquarium for the first time, City Museum will soon showcase a new display of its own.
Located in downtown St. Louis, the museum will open a new art installation during the Fourth of July holiday on Friday, called 鈥淟abyrinth,鈥� on the fourth floor of the building.
鈥淚t鈥檚 the biggest new environment that the City Museum has installed in years,鈥� said Milton, who is also a spokesperson for City Museum. 鈥淚t鈥檚 all built out of St. Louis history, so it鈥檚 built out of objects that were used for industrial things in St. Louis, like gears from locks and dams on the river and boilers.鈥�
According to , the Labyrinth exhibit maze features giant gears from the Mel Price Lock and Dam, glass salvaged from Central Library鈥檚 centennial renovation, and there鈥檚 also a pair of squirrels from the St. Louis Zoo.
鈥淧eople who love St. Louis history and architecture and industry are going to go wild for it,鈥� Milton said.
Access to the new exhibit is included with general admission or a member pass.
