Last weekend a group of sorority girls stopped by The Sandbar on their senior pub crawl downtown. They took the time to pose for a group shot upstairs on our beach while trying to finagle future jobs from Dave.
The picture's quite ironic- lots of Ugg's, coats, and other cold-weather attire in front of palm trees and sand.
These girls have clearly posed for lots of pictures- they arranged themselves in record time. We loved their matching pub crawl shirts.
Our art director/expert picture framer/general mischief maker Justin wore his Sandbar shirt in Austin, Texas somewhere in the land of Oklahoma truck stops recently. It's the first picture we have of a Sandbar shirt in Austin at an Oklahoma truck stop, I think.
No idea where he actually was....maybe he'll leave a comment and let us know. It's not everyday you can pose with a larger-than-life-size ice cream cone.
The last few days have been a flurry of activity and hurricane snow at The Sandbar!
Thursday was bartender Hayley's 23rd birthday. Hayley is one of our newest employees but she's actually been here for about a year and a half.
A random group of friends and assorted Sandbar staff helped her celebrate. Of course there was a birthday hurricane involved:
And then on Friday night, it was Bettina's turn to be the birthday girl. She was determined to wear the mermaid costume this year after another birthday girl beat her to it last year.
Heather even stuck around after her shift was over and danced on the bar.
That wasn't all, though- for a Friday night that was relatively light on customers, there was still a lot of activity.
Our friend Ashley was back in town for a visit this weekend. She moved to Baltimore almost a year ago, but she's been back to visit a few times. Dave made this Tennessee native's night when he played "Rocky Top" on the jukebox near the end of the night.
A group of sorority girls on a senior pub crawl stopped by for a visit before they made their way down Mass Street.
And, my day-job friend Lacey brought in a few friends to celebrate her last few days in Lawrence. She's hitting the road for Fort Worth and TCU next week to start a new job. Everyone needs a hurricane to send them off in style.
And that was just Thursday and Friday. Who knows what will happen tonight when Ashley hits the bar again!
More pictures on our Flickr photostream and our Facebook page.
I cannot BELIEVE I forgot to post this.
The Sandbar Sub Shop was featured in the October/November issue of Kansas City Fitness Magazine. Peach gave me a copy, I scanned the page, and promptly forgot all about it.
I have no idea how the magazine found our little sub shop, but it's a cool article. And very bright and Sandbar-like, which makes us happy. It even features pictures of a few of our sandwiches and salads!
Check it out:
If you haven't been to the Sandbar Sub Shop yet, you need to go. It's located in downtown Ottawa, Kansas, at 127 South Main Street. The menu has a great selection of healthy subs, salads, and smoothies.
And of course, there's lots of Sandbar decor!
Become a fan of the Sandbar Sub Shop on Facebook.
Have you noticed our new friend hanging from the ceiling?
Once upon a time, we had a real live shark dwelling among us at the Sandbar, but that didn't work out too well. Mostly because he kept growing. (I noticed when I posted that link that I never finished Part 2 of Sammy's story. Sorry. If I can remember Part 2, I'll finish it one of these days.)
Now, we have an even bigger shark, and there's plenty of room for him on our ceiling. Bonus: he won't grow. Raymond, cousin to Philip, brought us this new toy.
He hangs in the back of the bar near the bathrooms. Doesn't he look remarkably like the toy sharks from the Shark Attack drink that are currently nowhere to be found on this planet except for children's bathtubs?
Now taking suggestions for a name for this big guy.
It's been awhile since I posted about the keyword searches that internet surfers do that lands them on our lovely little blog. Okay, it's been a whole year. I'm sure you've been dying to know this information, too.
I can always tell when hurricane season is upon us- the real, actual, weather-related hurricane season, not the perpetual hurricane season at the Sandbar. How? Because people all over the internets start searching like mad for "what happens during a hurricane." It's easily the most popular phrase that lands people here.
Somehow, I don't think our answer is quite what they are looking for. It's probably more fun than the other answer, though.
Some other fun phrases that have popped up lately:
Got plans for Saturday morning? Join us downtown this Saturday, December 5, at the Lawrence Old Fashioned Christmas Parade!
This is the 16th year of the annual event, and The Sandbar is proud to be a sponsor. Our Friday bartender Phil serves as the parade chair, and owner Peach's good friend and neighbor, Elaine VanDeventer, is the parade's executive director.
The parade starts at 11 a.m. in downtown Lawrence and features nearly 100 entrants, all of which are horse-drawn.
Want to get even more involved? There are plenty of additional opportunities available: donate funds large or small, volunteer your time, or even participate in the parade!
This is a great event to take the whole family to- how many towns can claim an entire parade of horse-drawn carriages? If you take any pictures, email them to us or upload them to the Parade's Facebook page.
Don't forget to stop by The Sandbar after the parade for a refreshing drink!
Read about the Parade in the Lawrence Journal-World
Become a fan of the Lawrence Old Fashioned Christmas Parade on Facebook
RSVP to the event
Several Sandbar employees and friends have made the news recently!
First up, our friend Brendon. Brendon was featured in a recent Lawrence Journal-World photo celebrating his latest college degree. His lovely wife and daughter are also pictured.
Brendon has been a regular customer for many years now and also a personal friend to many of us. Congratulations Brendon!
Next, long time Friday bartender Heather. Heather is an avid reader, and she was caught by the LJW's roving reporter who asked "what are you reading?" Her picture and response appeared in last Sunday's paper.
If you haven't congratulated Heather on her engagement and upcoming marriage, be sure to do so!
Last but not least, our other long time Friday bartender Phil. Phil and his brother (identical twin?) were featured on the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce Facebook page recently.
It's uncanny how much they resemble each other. It's almost like someone just photoshopped two pictures of Phil together.
I think those are all the semi-famous folks we have in the news lately. If I missed anyone, leave a comment and a link.
For the last five days, we've been asking the question "what are you grateful for?," and many of you have answered.
Thanksgiving is just a day away, so here's a list of the things our friends are grateful for this year. Some are silly, some are serious, but all of them are important.
There you have it- this year's gratitude list from Sandbar fans.
As we're driving to visit family for the holiday, we'll be putting together a list of things about our staff that we're grateful for this year.
And one last thing: if you're sticking around Lawrence this year for Thanksgiving, stop by. Coleen will open the bar around 7:30.
Thanksgiving is upon us, so I thought this would be a good time to stop and think about what we're grateful for this year.
Something we are really grateful for is our wonderful staff. This is the longest period of time we've gone with no turnover that I can remember. Hayley mentioned last night that she is the "newest" member of the staff, and she's been working here for over a year. They all say they won't leave unless they move away or they're dragged kicking and screaming out the door.
And of course, we're grateful for all of our customers and friends. Many of you have been loyal to us for many years, and we appreciate it!
What are you grateful for?
Leave a comment and tell us. Be silly or serious. Maybe it's something personal, or something big. We'll compile all the responses and post a list next week to celebrate Thanksgiving.
It's been pretty slow on the we've-got-news front, but I've got a few random odds and ends to share.
1. Thanks for a fantastic weekend! Downtown hasn't been as busy as usual lately, but last weekend was definitely an exception. The final home football game of the season certainly helped.
While we wish KU had won the game, we always appreciate the Nebraska fans that visit. As far as fans from other teams go, they are always very fun and never cause any problems.
2. Speaking of the game... this blog post popped up in my Google alerts today (that was fast!). It's about local music and our neighbor to the east, the Tap Room. Apparently the craziness of the football weekend spilled over there, too, and some folks had trouble finding us.
3. New pictures! I found more pictures from Halloween hiding on my camera. You can check them out on our Facebook fan page or our Flickr photostream.
That's all I've got tonight.
One of our very good longtime friends turns 40 today!
Curtis and Dave are buddies from their college days, and there's a whole group of those guys who turned 40 this year. Today it's Curtis' turn to celebrate the big birthday.
One of our memorable moments of Curtis at The Sandbar is from Halloween in the mid-90's. For Halloween in 1995, Curtis and Todd (another long time friend who turned 40 this year) dressed as Hans and Franz from the Saturday Night Live sketch.
They were so funny, and so popular, in this costume that we invited them to return in 1996- but this time as bartenders. Todd and Curtis spent some or all of the evening behind the bar slinging drinks for the masses, dancing on the bar, and generally behaving as "girlie men" all night.
They certainly did pump the crowd up!
Today, Curtis has a wife and two adorable boys, and enjoys a job serving his fellow Jayhawks. All of us at The Sandbar wish him a super happy birthday, and if you see him anytime soon, buy him a drink!
(Photos provided by Curtis)
Who broke the freezer?
That was the hot topic around the Sandbar office last week. (Yes, we have an office. It's not your typical office, but it works.)
The freezer in question is the small one behind the bar that Dave added somewhat recently in an effort to bring back the popular frosty beer mugs. One day, it just stopped working.
The detectives on our staff tried to determine who broke it by figuring out when it last worked and who was on shift at that particular time.
Andrew created a handy flow chart on the whiteboard:
So, what do you think? Was it the ghost? Or was it Joe? The ghost has been known to pull some crazy stuff around here....but so has Joe. It's a toss up.
We just ordered some brand new drink toys! We've never had these toys before (that I remember anyway), and they'll be here in time to celebrate Thanksgiving.
(Image from Fun Express)
Everyone seems to really like the finger puppets whenever we decorate drinks with them, and we're trying to take advantage of the toy variety that the holidays provide.
Speaking of Thanksgiving...usually we are open for business that night for all the Lawrence locals who need to escape their families. However, it depends on what our staff is doing and if someone wants to work. We'll keep you posted.
See what's happened in Thanksgivings past. Maybe whoever works this year will renew the old tradition of counting the dollar bills on the wall.