by Debbi | Aug 6, 2009 | Birthday Party, Events
What's a party without a beer garden? Once we finally got the stage backed into place on 8th Street, it was time to set up our extended service area. This was probably the second-biggest task after the stage. It involved lots of pieces rented from Anderson Rentals and put together by Dave and helpers.
Of course we can't just use plain old barriers; we had to Sandbar-them up. Once the fences were placed, braced, and not going anywhere, our crew stapled festive grass skirting all around them to create a tiki lounge. We even had a lighted palm tree.
Standard Beverage staff arrived to set up the portable bar outside, where we served big cans of Corona and Red Stripe. How many cases of beer did we go through out there? 45. Our man on the street didn't think he was going to have to work all night, I'm sure, but he did a great job and worked hard, and we appreciate it.
Hayley and Danny broke their fingers popping beer cans open all night in the beer garden. It twas pretty crowded and you all kept them busy!
We hate that people had to wait in line to get into the beer garden at times. Of course, being The Sandbar, everyone is probably used to waiting in line at some point….but we were hoping that this could be one night where no one had to wait! But so many people showed up, and there just wasn't any more space to put people. We honestly had no idea how many people to expect at our party, and we are still amazed at how many of you celebrated with us.
Tomorrow: Pirates and the Bar Band
by Debbi | Aug 5, 2009 | Birthday Party, Events
We'll probably be talking about last Saturday's 20th birthday party for a long time here- there's just so many stories and pictures to share.
I didn't want to ruin the surprise of the stage before it was unveiled on 8th Street, so there weren't any pictures before the party. Much like St. Patrick's Day every year, we try to keep as many secrets as possible! And this event was definitely similar to a Sandbar St. Patrick's Day.
We borrowed a trailer from our friend Scott at Zarco66– and this trailer was at least ten feet longer than the Madl trailer that we use in March every year. Of course, that also meant that it wouldn't fit in our back yard, which is where our usual float-building shenanigans take place.
Peach and Scott hooked us up with a guy who owns the old bus barn in East Lawrence, and we rented a space in there to store the trailer. It's close to the bar so it was pretty convenient. Our usual float-building crew worked on the stage: Dave, Justin, Michelle, Coleen, Bridget, and Aaron. I'm probably forgetting some others who helped, too.
We spent a couple weeks building a giant pirate ship on the trailer, complete with a blue sky mural on the back by Sandbar art director Brother Pants. Coleen and her mom Sylvia sewed up some white sails. After a lot of painting and building, we had a pretty fun ship/stage ready for the party.
And then the big day arrived…
On Saturday, the guys had to dismantle the lower parts of the ship so they could drive the trailer to the corner of 8th and New Hampshire. It was pretty entertaining watching the ship arrive in Downtown Lawrence- and even funnier to watch twelve guys try to get it parked among the traffic.
But they did it, and by 5 pm on Saturday, a pirate ship had landed on 8th Street in front of The Sandbar. The guys all went to work, frantically re-assembling the parts they had removed and getting the ship ready for the night.
Tomorrow: More early evening party activity.
by Debbi | Aug 4, 2009 | Birthday Party, Events
Wow. Saturday night was a-maz-ing! We had no idea that so many people would show up to celebrate our birthday with us. Thanks to everyone for a fun night! This week we'll share stories and pictures from the event. If you have any to contribute, please email us!
The insanity started Friday. Well, it really started weeks ago. But on Friday is when party supplies started arriving, out of town guests started dropping by, and the final flurry of activity took place.
Friday afternoon, Channel 6 called the bar and wanted to know if they could come over and talk to someone. Dave decided he was too busy and needed to go finish work on the stage, so he told me to "deal with it." Yikes. Usually talking on camera is Dave or Peach's job, never mine. I tried to convince Andrew to stick around for it, but he just laughed at me.
The cameraman arrived sans reporter- apparently they were all either tied up at high profile trials or on vacation. Instead, he wanted me to just hold the microphone and talk about the party. I was prepared to answer questions, not just babble on my own!
Check out the Channel 6 video clip.
Funny story: when this clip ran on the 6 pm news Friday, I was labeled as "Sandbar Manager." Believe me, Dave heard about that! If Channel 6 says I'm the boss…well then I guess he has to listen to me. I posted a comment about it on our Twitter page, and about ten minutes before the 10 pm news aired, I saw this response: "Would you like to be labeled anything else? We can fix it for the 10 pm news."
Sure enough, they can fix things lightning fast down there, and by time my spot aired on the 10 pm news, I was demoted to a mere employee. Which I'm not even, really.
Friday night was fun- long lost friends were in town, Sandbar newbies enjoyed a first visit, and it was a great night for the patio.
by Debbi | Jul 31, 2009 | Birthday Party, Events
Don't forget to join us for our 20th Birthday Party celebration tomorrow night!
The party will be held in front of the Sandbar. Eighth Street between
New Hampshire and Massachusetts will be closed to traffic beginning at
5 p.m.
Here's a schedule of events for the night:
- 7 p.m. Stomper, a band featuring some of our neighbors from Richards Music Company, will start the show off with some tunes to warm up the crowd.
- 8:30ish The Bar Band will perform some crowd favorites, led by our bartender Tyler.
- 9 p.m. Mark Valentine and the Number Ones will take the stage and start playing Sandbar favorites.
- 10 p.m. Old-school Sandbar bartenders Ryan and Garreth will entertain the crowd with a few stories from the early years of the Sandbar.
- 10:30 p.m. The Sandbar Showgirls will perform some favorite Sandbar float dances! Dance along with us in the street. And, a special surprise at the end of this set- something that usually only happens late in the night, behind the bar, when the bartenders get a little silly.
- 11 p.m. The band will resume playing more fun tunes until late in the night.
A few highlights:
- This party is FREE and open to the public!
- It's a family-friendly event, so feel free to bring your kids to dance in the street.
- There will be bottled water, soda, and food available for purchase in the street.
- No alcohol will be allowed in the street. All alcohol must remain inside the bar or the extended beer garden.
- There is a $5 cover charge to enter the bar/beer garden, and you must be 21 to enter these areas. You'll be given a wristband the first time you enter.
We will have brand new Sandbar t-shirts for sale, but unfortunately our
medium's didn't show up! We'll only have small, large, and extra large
in stock. We will try to get additional sizes soon.
Please be kind to our staff, and we hope to see you tomorrow night!
by Debbi | Jul 30, 2009 | Birthday Party, Events, Sandbar Stuff
We know you've all been waiting for these!
We have brand new, limited edition, 20th birthday celebration shirts arriving soon. They will be available beginning on Saturday at our birthday party.
There are two different designs, although at first glance they might look the same. One shirt has the outside of the building on it, and the other one has a rendition of the interior bar. We got so excited about this artwork and couldn't choose between the two, so we thought we might as well just order both.
The shirt itself is a pale yellow shirt, which we haven't had in many years. They are available in sizes small through double-extra-large, and each shirt is $15.
This fantastic artwork was created by the folks at Hasty Awards in Ottawa, KS- the home of our second Sandbar location.
We know that many of you won't be able to attend the party this weekend. You can order a shirt by mail order- just send an email to us at sandbar@thesandbar.com, and let us know what shirt, how many, and what sizes you need. We can accept payment by credit card or Paypal. Shipping and handling is $5 for the first shirt, and $1 extra for each additional shirt. Plus, we'll throw in some fun Sandbar surprises!
by Debbi | Jul 29, 2009 | Birthday Party, Events
Our 20th Birthday celebration is this weekend, and there are people we need to thank.
The trailer that will serve as our pirate ship stage is provided by Zarco66. Scott Zaremba, owner of Zarco66, is also the voice you hear inviting you to our party in the ads currently running on local radio stations.
Zarco66 has nine locations throughout the area, with Scooter's Coffeehouse located behind the station at 9th and Iowa in Lawrence. We'll have some other exciting news about Zarco66 and the Sandbar in the next few months, so stay tuned.
Richard's Music Company has been our next-door neighbor for several
years now. We keep the staff caffeinated. They are graciously setting
up the sound system and helping to run electricity for this shindig.
And, some of their employees are going to entertain you! They have a band called Stomper and play Steely Dan type of music, according to Dave. Stomper is going to open up our show at 7 p.m and play for awhile.
Our friend and customer Tony operates professional entertainment company Primetime Entertainment. He is running all of the fancy lights for our show, and he also helped build the stage.
Tony is also setting up the projection screen on our stage that will show our slideshow with pictures from the last 20 years!
Standard Beverage is one of our local beer and liquor distributors. They keep the customers happy by selling us alcohol. They also employ our "man on the street" and former bartender Patrick.
Our Standard rep Trent provided wristbands for us to use at the door, as well as all of the fancy banners that you'll see at our party this weekend.
Their brands Corona and Red Stripe will also be featured at the party.
A big thanks to all of our sponsors for helping us with party duties! And to all of our fans, please thank these companies as well!
