by Debbi | Dec 1, 2009 | Christmas, Events, Newsworthy, People
Got plans for Saturday morning? Join us downtown this Saturday, December 5, at the Lawrence Old Fashioned Christmas Parade!
This is the 16th year of the annual event, and The Sandbar is proud to be a sponsor. Our Friday bartender Phil serves as the parade chair, and owner Peach's good friend and neighbor, Elaine VanDeventer, is the parade's executive director.
The parade starts at 11 a.m. in downtown Lawrence and features nearly 100 entrants, all of which are horse-drawn.
Want to get even more involved? There are plenty of additional opportunities available: donate funds large or small, volunteer your time, or even participate in the parade!
This is a great event to take the whole family to- how many towns can claim an entire parade of horse-drawn carriages? If you take any pictures, email them to us or upload them to the Parade's Facebook page.
Don't forget to stop by The Sandbar after the parade for a refreshing drink!
Read about the Parade in the Lawrence Journal-World
Become a fan of the Lawrence Old Fashioned Christmas Parade on Facebook
RSVP to the event
by Debbi | Nov 30, 2009 | Newsworthy, People
Several Sandbar employees and friends have made the news recently!
First up, our friend Brendon. Brendon was featured in a recent Lawrence Journal-World photo celebrating his latest college degree. His lovely wife and daughter are also pictured.
Brendon has been a regular customer for many years now and also a personal friend to many of us. Congratulations Brendon!
Next, long time Friday bartender Heather. Heather is an avid reader, and she was caught by the LJW's roving reporter who asked "what are you reading?" Her picture and response appeared in last Sunday's paper.
If you haven't congratulated Heather on her engagement and upcoming marriage, be sure to do so!
Last but not least, our other long time Friday bartender Phil. Phil and his brother (identical twin?) were featured on the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce Facebook page recently.
It's uncanny how much they resemble each other. It's almost like someone just photoshopped two pictures of Phil together.
I think those are all the semi-famous folks we have in the news lately. If I missed anyone, leave a comment and a link.
by Debbi | Oct 23, 2009 | Famous Folk, Jukebox, Newsworthy, People
I was really excited to see a recent album review in Ink, the Kansas City Star entertainment magazine that gets dropped off weekly at The Sandbar.
First, a bit of backstory. Peach has a brother, Patrick, who she bought The Sandbar from many, many years ago. Patrick has a daughter, Katlyn. We haven't seen her a lot around The Sandbar, but she danced with us on the Love Shack float in the St. Patrick's Day parade a long time ago:
I'm sure she'll love that I posted this picture. At least I didn't identify which one she is with little white arrows; you can try to figure that out yourself.
Anyway, Katlyn is a very accomplished singer and songwriter. She's been with the band Another Holiday for awhile, but she is getting ready to release her first solo album, "I Think I'll Stay Inside."
Ink magazine reviewed her album and really only had amazing things to say about it, even calling Katlyn "one of the most stunning female voices in the region." In fact, the only complaint they seemed to have is that the end of the album has a lot of slow songs.
The review ends by calling her album a "near perfect debut." That's a super compliment. The article doesn't say when her album will be out- maybe it already is- but if you're in the market for new music, pick up a copy and check it out.
Congratulations Katlyn, The Sandbar is proud of you!
by Debbi | Sep 15, 2009 | Newsworthy, People
In case you missed it, and I don't know how you could have, Dave made the paper again. Last Friday, the University Daily Kansan featured a story about him in their new "Wave" game-day section.
Big thanks to the writer Brenna, who is also in her second term as editor of the Kansan. She's a Sandbar fan, but up until this summer, she only knew Dave in his Sandbar persona- and didn't realize he had a previous life as a KU basketball player.
After the blog post this summer about a request for Dave's autograph, she contacted us and asked if she could do a story about Dave for the Kansan. "Of course!" I said. (Dave groaned.)
She interviewed Dave a few weeks ago and asked all kinds of questions about basketball and the bar. Apparently he mentioned that we met at The Sandbar, and upon hearing that, she wanted to interview me too!
I had a great time meeting Brenna over lunch and answering all kinds of questions about the bar and Dave. I even provided a few "vintage" pictures I dug up of Dave from his playing days. Secretly, I think he was thrilled that everyone could see him wearing tight-rolled jeans, showing off his dance moves at Late Night nearly twenty years ago.
We've heard so many compliments about this article. One of my favorites was "if I didn't already know you two, I would after reading this article."
Thanks, Brenna and the Kansan!
by Debbi | Sep 2, 2009 | Newsworthy
You may or may not have noticed that some changes happened for downtown parking this week.
An article in the LJW last week outlines all the changes.
As of Tuesday, your pocket change won't buy you quite as much time as it used to. Rates at the meters on Massachusetts Street doubled- now you get 30 minutes for your quarter, 12 minutes for a dime, and 6 minutes for a nickel. The meters should all be clearly marked with the new rates.
The other big change for many of you- and us- is the price of parking tickets. Those are going up to $3, from the previous $2.
But that's not all!
Enforcement of the parking rules used to end at 5 pm; now you have to feed your meter until 6 pm or risk getting a ticket. And, if you're one of those habitual violators (I'm looking at you, Dave), the city is going to start enforcing that ordinance. They've had something like this around before, because unfortunately we're familiar with it, but basically if you get five or more parking tickets in a 30 day period, you'll get a $50 fine and have to pay court costs.
So when you're coming out to have a drink or grab some dinner, or to just hang out on the patio afternoon while you're playing hooky from work, make sure to feed your meter!
(Frank, this might be a good time to start working on that parking meter app we talked about….)
by Debbi | Jun 8, 2009 | Newsworthy
I've been collecting some fun and interesting news articles recently to share with all of you, and the start of a new week seemed like a good time. Plus I don't have any good Sandbar stories from the weekend to share.
- First up, a bar in Austin that features sharks swimming underneath the dance floor. The QUA Bottle Lounge has a 20,000 gallon tank filled with black tip reef sharks and leopard sharks that are separated from the customers by acrylic panels. Might need a stiff drink before venturing onto that dance floor.
- While we're on the topic of sharks, those of you who enjoy both deep water diving and pranks might like this one. Freak out your friends with a fake shark attack wetsuit.
- If you're a wine drinker, try using soda water and ice to make a house wine taste better. It might also help to improve the taste of a bottle gone bad.
- Longing for a happy hour? Kansas law requires drinks to be sold for the same price all day; thus, no discounts after work. Read about how some local businesses have created their own versions of happy hour. And look on the bright side- we get to have happy days instead of just hours! Amusing that the "On the Street" question today asked people if they partake in happy hours- the first person's answer is priceless.
- And I've saved the best for last- this one is my favorite. 360i, a digital agency in New York, has a talking beer tap. Their staff rigged up a pretty sophisticated system to their office beer tap (yes, their office has a keg) so that it tweets a message every time a beer is poured, when the keg is almost empty, or even when it's been ignored for too long. Follow the Tweeting Bar to see what it has to say.
There you have it, some afternoon reading for those of you who don't have any work to do (or those of you whose computer systems at work happen to be down right now, like mine).
(Thanks to Ben Smith for the two shark-related story links. Follow him on Twitter to see more interesting links.)
