Happy birthday today to a whole bunch of our friends: bartender Heather, float dancer Sherri, Barrel House owners Emily and Alex and former Sandbar staff member Tyler.
Tyler dropped by the Sandbar last night to celebrate. Chris, another former bartender, and his wife came into town for the festivities. We haven't seen any of them in ages- though some of them have a good excuse (new baby).
Dave made sure the birthday boy was decked out in Sandbar style.
We hope all our friends had a great day of celebrations today!
Dave spends a lot of time at the bar working, but he spends a lot of time playing there also. Friday night was our friend Michelle's birthday, and naturally shenanigans at the Sandbar were on the night's list.
Michelle wanted to be the mermaid for the 10 p.m. hurricane, but no one else wanted to get on the bar with her. And since there's two costumes, we always think they both need to be worn, so finally Dave volunteered to be the second mermaid.
Unfortunately, he got the short mermaid dress:
The mermaid dress was more like a mermaid miniskirt on Dave. And of course, no costume is complete without a rainbow wig and shutter shades.
Dave and Michelle did a fine job performing the hurricane ritual on the bar, and after the storm was over Dave led the bar in a round of "Happy Birthday" for the birthday girl.
More birthday festivities will probably happen next weekend, too. Don't forget, stop by the Sandbar on your birthday and get a free tiara as a birthday gift!
We're a popular place for birthdays. It might be the hurricane and the prospect of wearing the mermaid costume; maybe the tropical drinks; or perhaps it's the fancy fur-trimmed tiara that the birthday girls get to take home.
Last Saturday, there were a couple of birthdays in the bar before it was even dark outside.
I'm not sure if one of these mermaids was the birthday girl, or if they were just part of the group, but they were having fun on the bar. Of course, Dave can't resist any opportunity to jump up there and dance, and you might recognize Peach on the left.
We like to think of bar dancing as our own version of a flash mob. People jump on the bar, and spontaneous dancing breaks out everywhere.
Our friend Kirsten from Dunn's Landing celebrated a birthday, too, and Peach brought a large group of ladies to the bar before they went out for a fancy dinner.
Birthdays always call for a shotski:
And this large group required the BIG shotski. They pulled it off!
Our great state of Kansas turns 150 years old today.
The Sunflower Showdown between the Kansas Jayhawks and the Kansas State Wildcats tips off at 6 p.m. tonight. This is the first installment of the Showdown during basketball season. We love that it falls on Kansas Day.
ESPN's College GameDay crew is in Lawrence this weekend for the big game, too. Yesterday they filmed the making of the Wang burger (Dave's favorite!) at The Wheel, and today they broadcast live from Allen Fieldhouse. Students (and old people, from what we've heard) crowded into the fieldhouse for their chance to be on TV.
They'll broadcast again from 5-6 p.m. right before the game starts.
And finally, the entire state is encouraged to raise a glass of Kansas beer, wine or cider at 6 p.m. to toast Kansas' birthday.
Patrick, Peach's brother and video camera operator extraordinaire, filmed loads of video at our 21st birthday block party last August. He recently edited and uploaded some of the video to YouTube, and we were excited to see it for the first time!
You can see some of Stomper's set here, and Katlyn Conroy and the Wild and Woolly are captured on video here. Katlyn is Patrick's daughter.
Everyone loves Captain Jack Sparrow, and we love bringing him back every year. He helped us welcome the huge crowd. The last half of the video below are random shots Patrick filmed, some from the roof of the bar.
Peach, Dave and the Sandbar dancing girls took the stage to perform the perennial Sandbar favorite, "Car Wash," and the Sandbar song. I'm sure we all have funny looks on our faces- the stage lights were blinding us, so we couldn't see anything in front of the stage. Last year, we could actually see the crowd and people's faces; this year was a little more awkward.
The fifth video Patrick uploaded is a three minute film of the headlining band, Mark Valentine and the Ones. you can check it out here.
We love birthdays. Well, we love all holidays, and especially the ones we can incorporate a costume into, but birthdays have a special place in our hearts. The Sandbar seems to be a birthday destination for many people, and we do everything we can to live up to that.
In honor of birthdays, we have a special birthday gift. Girls love tiaras, so we ordered a pile of fancy ones to hand out to the birthday girls. Or boys, we don't care who wears them.
Just let us know it's your birthday or your friend's when you come in, and the staff will give you your special birthday tiara.
And boys, if there's something you particularly like to wear- cowboy hats? crowns?- let us know and we'll order those too. You just don't seem to get as excited about this stuff as the ladies!
