By Don Rush

So, the whopper of this fish tale goes like this: One day, from an ocean far, far away, the little mermaid Sea-Vannah discovered a secret underground passage and swam and swam until she came to the passage’s end, a little lake at Scripter Park, in Oxford Village, where she popped up out of the water. There she frolicked and played with the boys and girls, splashing and swimming with her multi-colored tail until she had to go home.

In reality, last month beach-goers had fun with Oxford Township residents Ginger and Micheal Guindon’s 10-year-old granddaughter, Savannah Ignasiak dressed in her monofin – aka mermaid tail.

“I was blown away,” said Ginger. “Kids were coming from all over the beach to have their pictures taken with her. She has quite an imagination. She even came up with that story.”

Ginger said this was the first time her granddaughter wore her tail at Scripter Park.

Savannah, who lives in Riverview, MI with her mother Lacy. They make the trip to Oxford about once a month. She said she enjoys swimming in Oxford.

“Yes! When I visit my Mémère and Pépère we always go to Scripter Beach in the summer,” she said, using French for grandmother and grandfather.

When asked, “Why did you want to swim with a tail?” she answered, “I wanted to swim with a tail so that I could be a mermaid. I started at the age of 7 and now I swim with an advanced monofin. It makes me swim faster, and you feel like the dolphins do when they swim.”

She said it is different swimming with the tail, versus her feet. “In my tail, everything moves as one piece. When I swim without my tail, my legs and feet can go wherever I want them. You have to have a lot of core strength to swim with a tail,” she said, adding while there isn’t a class to learn to swim with a tail, “but you can pay for shallow pool lessons.”

Savannah said her Uncle Mike Guindon is a diver at the Toledo Zoo, “I want to be a mermaid in the aquarium with him.”

And, when she grows up?

“In the future, I want to be an aquatic veterinarian,” she said.

The 10-year-old also likes to do cheer and gymnastics when she’s not in the water.

Mémère Ginger said she has heard rumors that Sea-Vannah will be returning to Scripter Park later this month. “She’s a strong swimmer.”