Busty Mermaid at Tail End of Controversy

Welcome to Weirdest Thing of the Week, where…well, we point out weird things.

Photo courtesy of Yarmouth Police Department

Some patrons of Salty’s Diner in Yarmouth are feeling a bit salty this week.

They’ve expressed their distaste for a sand sculpture outside of the Cape Cod restaurant depicting a voluptuous mermaid.

Salty’s Diner owner Ray Roy commissions a sand sculpture of Salty’s mermaid every year during Yarmouth’s summer celebration. This year, though, WBZ reports that he requested that she be skinnier and bustier.

“It’s great art,” Roy told WBZ.

The busty mermaid riding a lobster, which is Salty’s logo, gained widespread attention after it was featured on the Yarmouth Police Department’s Facebook page to begin a “Sand Sculpture of the Day” series.

Yarmouth police chief Frank Frederickson told the Boston Herald he removed the photo from Facebook due to complaints.

“The intention was to bring attention to these amazing works of art and to set the town apart from everyone else in a big way,” he told the Herald. “It’s not the worst thing we dealt with all weekend.”

Other Yarmouth residents aren’t insulted by the itsy bitsy shell bikini, saying there’s nothing wrong with it.

The executive director of the Yarmouth Chamber of Commerce echoed this sentiment, telling the Herald, “All 41 of our sand sculptures are amazing. It’s art. Everything is subjective.”

Have you noticed funky happenings lately? Tell me about them: mbilis@bostonmagazine.com, @madelinebilis.