by Debbi | Aug 27, 2008 | Newsworthy
The Sandbar has always been blessed to get a lot of publicity, usually from the common sources like the local and campus newspapers, but also sometimes from an unexpected source.
Dave's mom got her hands on a copy of Women's Focus magazine, which is a publication in Wichita that caters, obviously, to women. The August 2008 edition's theme was education, so the Focus on Travel section featured a KU journalism student's tour of her college town.
Here's what she had to say about us:
We ventured into my favorite bar and a local staple, The Sandbar, home to a mixture of tropical concotions. With its island music, The Sandbar is unique for its indoor hurricane, which happens twice every night giving patronst he feel of the wind, rain, and thunder of an actual Florida hurricane.
You can read the rest of the article here (it's a PDF and you'll have to flip ahead to page 33/34 for the article). Next month, the column will feature a review of Manhattan, so check back on their website to see what our rivals down the road have to offer.
by Debbi | Aug 25, 2008 | Newsworthy
Most of The Sandbar staff spent at least part of their Sunday afternoon at Abe & Jake's learning about various alcohol rules and regulations.
There's usually some kind of server education training held in Lawrence every year, and Dave likes to make sure most of his employees attend. It's always a good refresher course on how to spot fake ID's, fire safety, and a review of the laws and penalties surrounding the sale of alcohol.
And of course, it wouldn't be an article in the Lawrence Journal-World without a quote from one of our very own. Even though he identified himself as the manager of Johnny's in his brief interview and didn't mention his other employment at The Sandbar, we still love Blair.
by Debbi | Aug 23, 2008 | Newsworthy, People, Stories
Brother Pants forwarded me a funny article from The Onion about Jimmy Buffett, so now I am sharing it all of you.
And speaking of secret lives, here's a good one for you from the alive-and-well rumor mill in Lawrence.
My good friend Becki called the other day to tell me that her mom had been visiting with a friend who informed her that she (or a friend of hers, I can't remember) was planning to go to Mexico to attend the wedding of the guy who owned the Sandbar. Becki's mom quickly informed her that she must be mistaken, because the guy who owns the Sandbar (actually, co-owns) had been happily married for quite some time and was definitely not traveling to Mexico to get married.
Her friend insisted that yes, it was the guy from the Sandbar- you know, the place that always has the floats in the St. Patrick's Day parade every year?
I told Dave that if he's planning to go to Mexico to get married that I at least better get to go along for the vacation.
by Debbi | Aug 21, 2008 | Newsworthy
That no longer sounds like wishful thinking, thanks to the Lawrence City Commission. It could actually happen at The Sandbar soon.
For some time now, the current commission has considered easing the restrictions on sidewalk dining areas downtown. Last January, they loosened up the food sales percentage requirement that restaurants previously had to have in order to be given permission for sidewalk dining, and now they've gone a few steps further.
At Tuesday's meeting, the commission voted 4-1 to allow downtown bars who can show that they have no other option for outdoor seating, they can apply for a sidewalk dining area. A place that has a back deck or patio, for example, is prevented from also having a sidewalk dining area- but places like The Sandbar where no outdoor option exists, have finally caught a break.
Of course there will be rules, and there should be. Nobody wants to see downtown turn into a wild party scene with drunken people spilling out of the bars, bottles in hand, and raising a ruckus. On the other hand, having a specific fenced off area outside will actually help clean up the appearance of downtown at night, in my opinion, by coralling the smokers into a contained area rather than allowing them to wander and loiter.
Only about six bars downtown could potentially qualify for a sidewalk seating area. We're grateful to have this opportunity.
Read about this issue in the Lawrence Journal-World here. The University Daily Kansan also profiled this topic here.
by Debbi | Aug 5, 2008 | Newsworthy
Earlier today, someone was online searching for "sandbar poem lawrence kansas." I can only assume they were looking for our enormously popular poem that is read before each night's hurricane.
However, something more interesting came up during the internet search for the poem: a list of 21 signs that someone saw on their drive between Kingsville, Texas, and Vancouver, Canada.
Ordinarily I wouldn't care about the various signs someone saw on their road trip. Except in all those miles and out of all the millions of signs they must have passed, the author of the list chose our sign as #12:
Sandbar- Live Mermaids Nightly!
This must have been from back when we still had the palm trees on the front windows. I thought it was cool that they picked our sign. You can go here to see the entire list of signs, some funny, some not so much.
by Debbi | Jul 31, 2008 | Newsworthy
I haven’t been bored at work lately, so I haven’t really had a reason to peruse the student newspaper. The last time The Sandbar was featured in the UDK (that I know of, anyway) was last February, in a story about a reporter’s journey off the beaten path of the usual college bars.
Yet another student reporter has taken up the cause of locating the best or favorite bars on Massachusetts Street, and The Sandbar was one of the few to be mentioned.
Here’s what they had to say about our place:
The Sandbar has beach party scenery with fish tanks, sand, mermaids
and a nightly hurricane reenactment. That tropical ambience costs $2 to
get in.
Tracy Simon, 2008 graduate, said her favorite part was the sand floor upstairs and a drink called the Shark Attack.
“I feel like I am away from Lawrence when in the Sandbar,†Simon said. “Because it is always like a beach party.â€Â
Yeah, that pretty much sums it up. You can read about the other bars they profiled here.
