SACRAMENTO, CA -- Downtown Sacramento's Dive Bar is not your typical dive, at their location on K Street, across from the Crest Theatre, people stop by for more than just the drinks, but the experience.
Once you go inside, it's hard to miss the 8,000-gallon water tank above the bar. It's there where patrons get to see the mermaids take a splash.
"You always know when the mermaids are in the tank because when you look around, everyone is holding their cell phones up." Dive Bar General Manager John Deema said. "You don't even have to see the mermaid to know when the mermaids are in the tank."
But Wednesday night was a bit different. The phones were up, video rolling and pictures snapping to capture one mermaid in particular, Brenna DeBartolo.
DeBartolo is Deaf, but that didn't stop her from entering the bar's "Mermaid for a Night" contest. She first went to the Dive Bar for a sales retreat, and fell in love with the atmosphere, and the mermaids.
"It's a different world," she said. "I can imagine myself offering my energy and the magic of the Deaf community in the same place."
With support from the Deaf community, and Brenna's drive, she beat out 10 other candidates. It's something that stood out to Dive Bar's head mermaid, Rachel Smith.
"The amount of time she actually spent in the bar actually talking to people and gaining their support and gaining their votes," Smith said. "She's really personable, she's really friendly, and she worked really, really hard to get in the tank."
DeBartolo trained for nearly a month, getting some practice in with the other mermaids.
She says she didn't have any butterflies, and that it helps that she can't see very well when inside the tank.
Her two performances were a success and as she took pictures with fans, she said the experience was overwhelming.
"I understand sometimes how celebrities might feel out there, that you're smiling so much that your face gets sore," DeBartolo said. "I'm very happy to see that people are excited for me."
SOURCE - ABC News
