Here's a quick guest blog from long-term Friday bartender Heather. She kindly included a few pictures she snapped at Friday's holiday party. You can see more pictures on our Flickr page or our Facebook page.
Every year Phil and I like to celebrate the holidays with a little holiday cheer. For us that means adult egg nog and snacks. This year our Sandbar friend, Vicki, was kind enough to bring some homemade cookies and they were yummy. Don’t feel bad if you didn’t get any because I ate over half the plate! Enjoy the pictures and we hope to see you soon.
Thanks to everyone who came out last Friday for Phil & Heather's annual party! It was a great night and a full house, and we appreciate your business!
Is more funny videos of Dave dancing around the bar dressed as Elvis Santa.
There was much dancing at Sunday's staff Christmas party. Fortunately a lot of it was caught on video. Unfortunately, some of the video was either too dark to be able to see or the subjects of the video really don't want their antics on the internet. Dave, however, doesn't care- so enjoy:
I particularly love the moment when Tyler dances his way into the video as if on cue.
Some of the other hilarious dance moments of the night:
Andrew, Tyler, Fyler and Dave singing and dancing behind the bar
Andrew and Dave doing their best Soulja Boy imitation on the bench
Fyler, Tyler and Andrew dancing to "Jump On It" behind the bar
Ken's rendition of "Old El Paso" that only comes out late, late at night
Of course, the ladies dance too. But somehow the boys dancing is funnier.
Last night brought one of our favorite nights of the year- the annual Sandbar staff holiday party. (We have lots of favorite days and nights of the year, if you haven't noticed.)
Every year on a Sunday night just before Christmas, the bar closes to the public for a few hours so our staff can celebrate the holidays, our friendships and another great year at the bar.
We eat, we drink and we open presents! The "white elephant" gift exchange has become a highlight of the party. Some gifts are serious (pretty candles, wine and lottery tickets) while others are total nonsense (ceramic gorillas, toilet seats and broken VCR's.) This year was no exception. Some of the gifts that made an appearance:
The drink "butler"- an outstretched hand that cups a glass and is battery-operated, so the butler brings the drink across the table to you. It even knows to stop at the edge of the table.
A giant ceramic Admiral Lord something-or-other mug.
A camo-patterned Snuggie.
A gold lame thong.
"Manifold Destiny! The One! The Only! Guide to Cooking on Your Car's Engine!" written by Chris Maynard, and unwrapped by none other than Chris Maynard, former Sandbar-tender.
A giant poster of Dave and Justin dressed in wedding finery, from bartender Heather's wedding to Ken last spring.
The costume contest followed the gift exchange. Not as many people dressed up as last year, when practically everyone was wearing some sort of Christmas character costume. This year, we recycled our costumes from SantaCon and filled the bar (sort of) with Santas.
Sexy Santa Michelle and Run D.M.C. Santa Todd split the first place prize, judged by Ted and Andy.
The rest of the night was filled with lots of drinking, dancing and pure entertainment. Especially from the revolving cast of boys behind the bar.
SantaCon Lawrence was yesterday in downtown Lawrence, and it was fun!
The Sandbar was excited to be one of the six participating bars for this event. The Santa party started off here at 1:30 p.m. with around 30 Santas, elves and Mrs. Claus characters. Many of the participants were Sandbar staff and friends, but one couple even drove in from Kansas City to participate in the fun.
A reporter and photographer from the Lawrence Journal-World stopped by, and they interviewed some of the Santas and took lots of pictures. In fact, they stayed with us for over an hour and even traveled to the second bar- Louise's Downtown- with us! Read the article here, and there are a couple of pictures and even a video featuring dancing Santas.
After about an hour at the Sandbar, the Santa parade went to Louise's, followed by the Replay Lounge- where Santa and Mrs. Claus danced on stage!- the Bottleneck, Red Lyon and finally ending up at the Barrel House. Santa made a few detours along the way, wandering through Sunflower Bike Shop (at their request), the Bourgeouis Pig and Free State. The group dwindled along the way, but the die-hard crew of 5-6 Santas ended up back at the Sandbar around 8:30 p.m.
All of the bars were very accommodating to the group of Santas, and the people on Mass Street really seemed to love it! Several Santas actually had bags full of trinkets and toys, and they handed them out to kids on the street. They also popped into some of the downtown businesses to spread a few "ho ho ho's."
SantaCon wasn't all just for fun, though- in the spirit of the season, Santas were encouraged to bring non-perishable food items to donate to Just Food, a local food pantry here in town. We filled one giant box at the Sandbar, and there were a few more bags of food that didn't fit in the box. Way to go Santas!
You know how much we love costumes at the Sandbar, so we are definitely looking forward to doing this again next year! Our upcoming staff holiday party will also be a Santa costume party, and we've heard that some cities have started having "BunnyCon" and "PirateCon" events to tide them over until Christmas every year…
Check out our pictures on Flickr or Facebook here. If you were at SantaCon, we'd love to see your pictures! Email them to us at sandbar@thesandbar.com, upload them to our Facebook page or tag them on Flickr!
Last year we wrote about an event that man on the street Pat brought to our attention: SantaCon.
In that post, we said: "We are totally doing this in downtown Lawrence next year."
Well guess what, kids? WE ARE!
SantaCon Lawrence makes its debut this year on Saturday, December 11. There are six bars participating in the inaugural event: Louise's Downtown, the Replay, Red Lyon, the Bottleneck, Barrel House and Sandbar.
SantaCon is free and open to anyone who is at least 21. The only requirement is that everyone must be dressed in Santa apparel! Creative interpretations of Santa are encouraged. Can you imagine a mass gathering of Santas parading around downtown from bar to bar?
In the spirit of the season, Santa is also adding charity to the event. Even though it's free to attend, Santa wants everyone to bring non-perishable food donations. A box will be located at each bar where you can leave donations, and Santa will pick them up later and deliver them to a local food bank.
SantaCon starts at 1:30 p.m. at The Sandbar. A full schedule will be posted on the official website, so Santas who are late can find the party. Though, it shouldn't be hard to find a bunch of rowdy Santas downtown.
If you aren't sure what SantaCon is, check out the video below:
This popular annual event in downtown Lawrence is in its 18th year. It showcases horses, carts and carriages from several states, and the organizers expect about 90 participants this year.
Our very own Friday bartender Phil serves as the parade's chairperson and helps organize the parade every year.
This is one parade we just watch- no ginormous Sandbar creations in this parade. Join us downtown on Saturday! The parade starts at 11 a.m.
