11th annual pub quiz trivia

Sunday night was the 11th annual Pub Quiz trivia event to benefit the Lawrence St. Patrick's Day Parade, which benefits local children's charities.

Eleven years already- wow. The Sandbar has had a team in this event for at least most of those years. Our former bartender, Scottie Mack, puts the event together. We actually won last year, believe it or not.

This year we had nine smart people on our team who could cover topics ranging from military history to celebrity baby names (that's my area of expertise and I'm not ashamed to admit it).

We're sad to say, however, that we missed this question:

"John Hampton claims to be the first male to portray this downtown Lawrence character."

Got an answer? We didn't. It wasn't our question, but the team who got that one couldn't answer it, so everyone had a chance.

We didn't win the trivia game, but we finished in the top half so we're proud of that.

Join us for the Color Run!

Have you heard of the Color Run? It's a crazy-sounding 5k "run" where all the participants wear white and are blasted with color at various stops during the route, so at the end of the run everyone looks like a giant rainbow. It's more about fun than speed, so even non-runners can enjoy the experience.

The Color Run took place in Kansas City last spring, and it seems like all of our Facebook and Twitter friends were there.

Well, now it's coming to Lawrence! Mark your calendar for Saturday, Oct. 6 at 4 p.m. and get ready for the "happiest 5k on the planet," as they say. The run takes place in downtown and east Lawrence.

And, we've got a team you can join. If you sign up before Sept. 15, it's $40, and if you join our team you'll save five bucks! After that date the price goes up.

Here's how to register:

  • Go to http://thecolorrun.com/lawrence/
  • Choose "Team Registration" if you want to join our team
  • Sign in or create an account 
  • Under the "Team Information" section, choose "join a team," and in the search box search for "Sandbar Shark Attack."
  • Finish the rest of your registration

The Color Run is also supporting the Assists Foundation, and you can choose to make a personal donation if you wish.

That's it! What are you waiting for?

We'll have more details soon, but we're tentatively planning on having pre- and post-race gatherings at the bar, and we're also planning to print special white Sandbar T-shirts just for the Color Run! We'll let you know when they're available for purchase.

We hope you'll join us for this fun event!

Hearts of Gold Ball 2012

Last weekend the Sandbar crew staffed the bar at yet another Hearts of Gold Ball, the biennial black-tie event created in 1999 that benefits the Lawrence Memorial Hospital Endowment Association. Peach sits on the board of the organization and we're proud to help give back to the community.

This year's theme was "Home is Where the Heart is" and all funds raised will help update the second floor medical unit, one of the last wings in the hospital to be updated.

The event was in the gymnasium at Corpus Christi Catholic Church- something that we at the Sandbar thought was funny, since bartender Ken is the physical education teacher and gym guru at the school. We joked about how he was sure to notice any marks left on the floor by all the high heels at the ball.

Hayley, Coleen and Ethan all tended the bar, along with Hayley's friend Ally. It was quite a different atmosphere from the Sandbar- no Sandbar T-shirts here! They all looked very professional in black and white.

According to 6 News Lawrence, the ball raised $350,000. There were live and silent auctions with all kinds of cool stuff to buy, and another way for people to donate if they didn't want to buy something- they could "raise the paddle." Basically this meant they could raise their bid card and give a certain amount of money. Apparently, people do that!

We had a great time sharing a table with the folks from Zarco 66. Can't wait for the next one!

Walk MS in Lawrence

The annual Walk MS, a fundraiser for the National MS Society, is coming up on April 28. The Sandbar has a team walking again this year.

Our friend Courtney, a regular patron from the 90s, was diagnosed with MS several years ago. We also have a number of other friends who have MS, and bartender Danny has been a huge fundraising machine for years now through Bike MS.

Courtney's Sandbar walk team has a donation page here. We'd love it if you made a donation, large or small, to our team. Our team's fundraising goal is $3000.

Or, walk with us! The more the merrier! You can join our team from the same link posted above.

If you'd like to donate to bartender Danny's effort, you can do that here. Even if you don't want to make a donation, you should check out his page; it features a picture of his team, the Fun Police, outside the bar on their bikes.

SantaCon 2011

We had a great time at SantaCon 2011!

This is the second year we've participated in SantaCon Lawrence. What is it? In a nutshell, a pub crawl of Santas parading around downtown Lawrence. Santas were also encouraged to bring non-perishable food donations to be donated to Just Food, the local food bank.

The Santas (and some elves) gathered here around 2 p.m. last Saturday. A reporter and photographer from the Lawrence Journal-World stopped by to talk to Santas and take pictures, and after about an hour the party moved on.

Photo(8) Photo(7)

The Santa parade traveled through Sunflower Bike Shop and headed south on Mass Street, with Santas handing out candy canes to children and waving at passersby. The tour included the Granada, a detour to Pyramid Pizza for non-alcoholic sustenance, the Replay Lounge (where a few Santas did the Car Wash on stage, and Dave was interviewed by Channel 6), the Red Lyon, and then back north.

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A few Santas stopped for cupcakes at Cupcake Construction Company; others detoured through the Pig. The group came back together at the Bottleneck and ended the evening at Henry's on 8th.

Here are a few links:

Red and White and Christmas All Over (LJ World article)

On the Street: Why Did You Participate in SantaCon (LJ World)

Slide Show about SantaCon (LJ World)

Great group shot outside the Sandbar by John Clayton

Old-Fashioned Christmas Parade

One of Lawrence's great holiday traditions is this weekend- the Old-Fashioned Christmas Parade!

Downtown Lawrence will be filled with horses and carriages and buggies on Saturday, Dec. 3. The parade starts at 11 a.m. at 7th and Massachusetts and heads south.

Something cool this year: the parade was named as one of the top 10 U.S. Christmas celebrations by the website Suite 101. You can read their article here to see what they had to say, along with the other nine celebrations that were selected.

Something else cool this year: Downtown Lawrence Inc. has partnered with Just Food, the local food bank, to place food donation barrels downtown. Anytime you're downtown this season, whether for the parade or to shop, bring non-perishable food items with you to put in the barrels. Some downtown merchants will also have cash donation boxes in their stores.

The Sandbar is proud to be a sponsor of this Lawrence tradition, and we hope you'll make it out on Saturday for the parade!

Like the Lawrence Old-Fashioned Christmas Parade page on Facebook.