Monday afternoon, Tim Koehler of Mike’s Painting drove into town with a 30-foot mermaid statue on his trailer. He brought the statue directly to the company’s sandblasting shop where over the next two months employees will restore a 50-year-old statue from Mounds View, Minnesota.

For decades, the fiberglass mermaid was displayed on top of the Mermaid Entertainment and Event Center off Highway 10. Six years ago, the statue was taken off the room due to concerns it was damaging the structure. Ever since she has laid under a tarp in a parking lot.

Recently the city of Mounds View expressed interest in restoring the statue as it is a famous part of the community. The question becomes, who do you call to help restore a large fiberglass mermaid?

Mike’s Painting & Sandblasting netted the job thanks to their previous work on another famous statue.

Tim Koehler explains the repair process for the 30-foot mermaid project. The first step is repairing holes in the fiberglass. Next is to repaint the structure, matching the original 1970s color scheme. Koehler said the project is challenging due to the extensive detail work on statue, but he is confident the team at Mike’s Painting can get the job done.

In 2015, Koehler was commissioned to repaint the Jolly Green Giant Statue in Blue Earth near Interstate 90. The Mounds View community heard of his work and asked Koehler to do the same restoration work for their mermaid.

Koehler said after taking a look at the mermaid statue, he was confident he could complete the project but admitted it would be a unique challenge and more time-consuming than the Jolly Green Giant. It took a month to repaint the Jolly Green Giant, and the mermaid restoration will likely take two months.

“It is a smaller statue, but there are more details,” he said.

Restoration work will include some fiberglass repairs. There are a few tears along the side of the statue as well as a few bullet and arrow holes in the chest. After the fiberglass repair is completed, the team will repaint the mermaid. The goal is to match the statue’s original 1970s look. The fish part of the mermaid statue has several different colors and textures, but Koehler is confident they can find the correct match. In addition to the paint, he plans to give it a primer coat and a jell coat for extra protection. The idea is to make sure the mermaid remains in good condition for another 50 years.

Koehler said the mermaid project was extremely important to the people of Mounds View.

Mounds View, Minnesota’s famous mermaid statue will undergo restoration work at Mike’s Painting in New Ulm. Painter Tim Koehler said the goal is to restore the statue to its look in the 1970s.

“When I went to pick it up there were about eight people there, including the mayor,” Koehler said. “It was a big deal to them. I even got a police escort from Mounds View to US-169.”

The hour and 40-minute drive from Mounds View to New Ulm was mostly uneventful, but Koehler acknowledged there were a lot of drivers on the road surprised to see him hauling a 30-foot mermaid.

For the return trip, he plans to build a cradle for the statue and place bubble wrap around it for extra protection.

Koehler said the people of Mounds View put their confidence in him and wanted to reassure them the mermaid was in safe hands. He plans to provide the community with photos of the progress he makes over the next two months.

Mike’s Painting of New Ulm hauled in a 30-foot mermaid Monday afternoon. The mermaid statue came from Mounds View, Minnesota. For nearly 50 years the statue has stood in Mounds View, but is now in need of restoration. For the next two months, Mike’s Painting will work to restore the statue to it’s former glory.