Photo by Clay Schuldt Tim Koehler, sales manager and painter for Mike’s Painting secures the 30-foot mermaid statue on a trailer for its trip back to Mounds View. After 300 hours of restoration work the fiberglass statue is repaired and ready to return home.

NEW ULM — In January, Mike’s Painting & Sandblasting of New Ulm netted an unusual project, the Mounds View Mermaid.

The 30-foot fiberglass mermaid was on display on top of Mermaid Entertainment and Event Center off Highway 10 for decades. Six years ago, the statue was taken offsite due to concerns it was damaging the structure.

Ever since she has laid under a tarp in a parking lot until five months ago when Tim Koehler, sales manager and painter for Mike’s Painting, picked up the mermaid and brought to New Ulm for repairs.

Koehler said it took around 300 man-hours to repair and repaint the statue. There were two big challenges with the project. The first was making the necessary fiberglass repairs. The statue had sustained significant damage over the decades, including tears, bullet and arrow holes.

Mike’s Painting also fixed the netting the statue held in its hands. When the statue was first transported to New Ulm, it was without its net, which needed to be reattached. The net was one of the greatest challenges.

Jon Landquist of Mike’s Painting said there were pieces of netting missing that they needed to replace, but they could not figure out what material the net was made from. The team at Mike’s Painting had to find a substitute material to match the netting.

The second challenge was matching the original paint scheme. Koehler said the tail of the mermaid was originally a blue-green color, but over the decades the color faded. Photographs of the statue were available, but the original color was not clear.

“The old photos were so old it was hard to match,” Koehler said. “Mounds View trusted us to get the closest match possible.”

Koehler submitted photos to the city throughout the process. He is confident they will be pleased with the final product.

“I am hoping to surprise them with how well it turned out,” he said.

In addition to the repaint, the statue was given a clear coat for extra protection. The coating included glitter on the tail to help it pop in the sunlight.

“The whole job was fun to do,” Koehler said. “You don’t get this type of job offer a lot.”

This is actually the second fiberglass statue Mike’s Painting has helped restore. In 2015, Koehler was commissioned to repaint the Jolly Green Giant Statue in Blue Earth near Interstate 90. This is actually how they received the mermaid commission.

Last year, the city of Mounds View expressed interest in restoring the statue as it is a famous part of the community. Mike’s Painting and Sandblasting was selected for the restoration because of their previous work on the Jolly Green Giant.

At least one other community requested a quote from Mike’s Painting for a fiberglass statue repair. Koehler said he would not mind working on other fiberglass statues.

“It would be fun,” he said.