What is a mermaid convention?
Mermaid conventions are a thing and have been for over a decade now. These conventions allow merfolk from all over to meet, swim together, socialize, share knowledge, teach classes, gain certifications, enhance skills, network, buy new mermaid gear, etc.
Past conventions:
The first ever mermaid convention (Mercon) was held in 2011 in Las Vegas. I remember begging to go and not being able to. I was 14-15 at the time. An article about that event talked about how it’s a growing hobby that some have turned into a career. it’s so weird to look back at the tiny mermaid community from 2011 and see how much mermaiding has exploded since then.
The first convention featured homemade fabric tails, early full silicone tails made from dragonskin silicone (still the industry standard today) as well as tails made from silicone caulk (before the mermaid community figured out that wasn’t safe and caulk shouldn’t be used for tails) and the very few commercially available fabric tails at the time like magictail.de.
The longest running mermaid convention is the California mermaid convention which was previously the Sacramento mermaid weekend but evolved into a full con. Over 10 years now!
The NC merfest in Cary North Carolina in 2014 and 2015 hosted up to 300 merfolk and was a high point in mermaid convention history for custom silicone mermaid tails. Merbellas and Finfolk tails and the famed Mertailor lobster tail! Hannah mermaid and mermaid Kariel were there in their handmade sequin tails! This con is no longer hosted.
2016 NC mermania in Greensboro, North Carolina was my very first mermaid convention! I went again in 2017! This con is no longer hosted.
Mermaid mega fest in South Haven Michigan in 2018 and 2019 this convention broke the Guinness world record for the largest mermaid gathering in the world with around 450 merfolk. It is now known as merfest international. this con was canceled for 2024 and may not return.
The mermaid world championship in guangzhou China was a place for merfolk from all around the world to compete against each other as freedivers and underwater performers.
Mermates in Belgium hosted at TODI dive center
Mercon Australia
The Key west mermaid Festival in the Florida keys started in 2019 and is still hosting meet ups.
The Afro Mermaid Summit in Miami Florida in the secret gardens
Mermagic con hosted by the circus siren pod and featured in the Netflix documentary “merpeople” has been running for 6 years now and I just left the 2024 con! It’s hosted near Washington DC each year around the first weekend of March.
I have been a vendor at 4 of them and I have attended 5/6. Making this past weekend (March 1-3 2024) my 7th mermaid convention!
Upcoming conventions:
There is a new mermaid convention being hosted in Richmond Virginia this year April 5-7 2024. Syren Symposium
The California mermaid convention in Sacramento California May 17-19 2024
The Afro Mermaid Summit in Miami Florida in the secret gardens June 20-23 2024
Key west mermaid festival July 4-7 2024 in Key West Florida
How mermaid conventions have changed since my first one:
My first convention was a smaller gathering of merfolk that were all in the mermaid community already and was filled with gorgeous full silicone tails. Just seeing the tails was worth the cost of attending.
There were very few “famous” mermaids and it was crazy to me to meet someone that I followed on Instagram (tiktok wasn’t a thing yet) seeing people who I knew from the old school mermaid community forum mernetwork was so exciting!
Now the cons host 400+ merfolk and hundreds of spectators who have come to see the mermaids and brought their kids for mermaid storytimes and swimming with mermaids. People know about the mermaid world from the netflix documentary “merpeople” and from tiktok and other social media. Mermaiding has grown so much that now it’s no longer contained in just our little community of professionals and enthusiasts. This is scary because of the safety concerns. People see that merfolk exist and they want to join us so they just buy a dangerous knockoff from Amazon without doing any research or training.
10 years ago these cons were only known by community members and you had to do lots of research and work to even find out about the community. Now people see it on their for you page and no work or research is required.
I love that I can share mermaiding magic with so many people I do but I also miss when people had to actually put in work and do real research. Now it seems like people can’t even click a link and read all the research (that has been done for them!) about tail safety.
Fabric tails have become wayyyy more available and accessible and customizable so most of the merfolk as the cons now have fabric tails and you may see several of the same one. I do miss all the silicone tails lined up by the pool for a group photo we could all fit on one side of the pool for but a pool full of merfolk is always fun.