Mermaids & Piano Pat

For all of you haters out there who think Great Falls has nothing to offer by way of night life, let me tell you that you are mistaken. Our restaurant selection is limited, we don't have a comedy club, and our mall is, for the most part, underground, but that doesn't mean we don't know how to have a good time. It seems that GQ magazine was here several years ago, and one of our very own local yokels was named the best bar IN THE WORLD. Not the town, not the state of Montana, not the United States...the world.

I had not heard of the Sip n Dip until Friday night, when I was out to dinner with a few friends. They kept talking about some lounge, located above a motel, with a piano player and tiki-themed decor and mermaids swimming around. I thought they were nuts. Wouldn't you? I mean, mermaids don't even exist. So we walk into the Sip n Dip, and immediately my jaw drops. It's ridiculous beyond description. I think my mouth was a huge gaping hole of wonder and disbelief the entire time I was there.

Me and the girls...along with a random Canadian man who insisted on buying us all a flower. Very strange.

The decor is tiki hut to the extreme. Grass lines the ceiling and whatever walls are not covered in huge mirrors are done in wood panels. Booths with cheesy faux-leather seats provide a 1970's feel. Lights are strung up all over the place. Fake tropical flowers everywhere. The lights and mirrors make you feel like you're on the inside of a disco ball, but then you see tiki hut stuff and are just plain confused.

The flower lady making the rounds

 And then there's the mermaids. Seriously. Behind the bar there a huge windows looking into a huge tank. And women with bikini tops and mermaid fins swim around. If you go up to the bar and tip the mermaid, they will swim behind you behind the glass and pose for a photo. Thankfully, they are not real mermaids. I saw them come up for air a few times while I was there. Who thinks of these things?

How cool are we? We are swimming with the mermaid!

What kind of music would a place like this provide for your listening pleasure? The Beach Boys? The sound of ocean waves crashing? Jamaican steel drums? Wrong, wrong, and wrong again. The real gem of the Sip n Dip is Piano Pat, a lady who looks to be about 70 years old and sounds like she has smoked a carton of unfiltered cigarettes every day for her entire life. Pat sings all kinds of songs and plays a pipe organ. So basically, if you closed your eyes, you would feel like you were at a baseball game. I am not making this up. Here's a little gem I found on Youtube of Piano Pat:

Piano Pat...with Kristi looking so excited in the background!

There you have it, ladies and gents, a night on the town in Great Falls, Montana. I am still so amused by the fact that a place like this is actually real and not a figment of my imagination. If you don't believe me, well, you'll just have to come visit!