by Debbi | May 13, 2009 | Newsworthy, On the Patio
We are soooo excited today! Our sidewalk dining/hospitality/patio area plans have been approved!
We have been working on these plans ever since the City Commission announced that downtown bars could become eligible for sidewalk seating. In the past, this was only available to restaurants who had a certain percentage of food sales. However, because of the smoking ban that was passed several years ago, the previous City Commission tweaked the sidewalk dining ordinance slightly, and downtown bars who have no other alternative for a patio or deck can now apply for sidewalk seating.
Our plans were unanimously approved at last night's City Commission meeting.
Dave has already begun working on an iron railing- yes, he's building it himself. Unfortunately, since there are city rules and Historic Resources Commission guidelines, we are bound to a very specific style of railing, which means we can't jazz up our fence Sandbar-style with iron palm trees and other gaudy stuff. But, we're not complaining, we're just grateful to have the fence, no matter what it looks like.
The plans have to go through a second reading at next week's City Commission meeting- some sort of procedural thing, I assume- so we won't have the sidewalk seating area ready in time for this weekend's graduation festivities. But it should be up sometime next week!
You don't have to dream anymore about sitting outside sipping a beer or a Bahama Mama…it will soon be a reality!
Our plan's approval was also mentioned in an LJW staff blog.
by Debbi | May 5, 2009 | Bar Band, Newsworthy
There was a great article in the University Daily Kansan today written by a senior about his last days as a student in Lawrence. He mentioned a number of things he was thankful for and things he would miss, and one of them was the bar band.
The writer and his friend were waxing nostalgic at a local bar (I like to think perhaps it was The Sandbar, but it could have been anywhere) and concluded that the bar band is one of the best traditions in Lawrence. We couldn't agree more.
The bar band, of course, got it's start back in the mid-90's by one of our very own staff members, Chad. He gathered a group of friends from the Marching Jayhawks, and they decided to hit up several Lawrence bars on the Friday nights before football games to get the fans going early.
"What time is it? Beer:30." That's the motto of the bar band.
Read the full article in the UDK and let us know what you think.
by Debbi | Apr 26, 2009 | Newsworthy
Loyal customer Frank's favorite brewers are celebrating 250 years in 2009! Guinness launched a Special Edition Guinness 250 Anniversary Stout on April 24 to mark the occasion.
Here is what they have to say about it:
We couldn't be prouder of this stout. Using a proprietary brewhouse process that combines the use of stout and ale malt, it's a distinctive carbonated stout with a clean, smooth finish. This is especially exciting, as we haven't introduced a new stout to the US since 1967, when we first started importing Guinness® Draught.
Very exciting news for the Guinness fans out there! Dave isn't sure yet if we will be getting any of this at The Sandbar, but as soon as we find out we'll let you know.
by Debbi | Apr 21, 2009 | Newsworthy
Imagine my surprise today when I saw an article in the Lawrence Journal-World with a headline that contained "Sandbar School teaches students…" My first thought was, Dave's teaching what?!?
The article is actually about a program put on by the Friends of the Kaw called Sandbar School, and it's a lesson for elementary school aged kids about the river and water safety. Oh, and they got a free life jacket, that they got to decorate with markers!
The funniest quote in the article was from a fourth grader: “I’ve heard the sandbars would be a lot of fun."
Oh if he only knew! Give him about twelve or thirteen years and he'll have a whole different idea of sandbars.
The article wasn't the only thing funny, however. If you've ever read a story in the LJW, you've seen the comments from the peanut gallery that are posted beneath almost every story online. The comments on this story were quite hilarious:
"I was disappointed. I thought Johanning was teaching the kids how to mix a drink."
And then a zinger from Scotty Mac-
I was disappointed too. But I thought somebody was going to show Johanning how to mix a drink.
Oh, Scotty. Who do you think is going to teach him, you? I don't think there's much about mixing drinks that Dave doesn't already know.
The Sandbar- the actual bar- made the newspaper today, also. An article about how local businesses are using social media tools like blogs, Facebook, Twitter, and email made a mention of The Sandbar's Facebook page. They even included a link to the page. Our friend Jacinta, who co-owns an online marketing firm, was quoted in the article also.
by Debbi | Mar 21, 2009 | Newsworthy, St. Patrick's Day
We've been on vacation for a few days recovering from the craziness of St. Patrick's Day.
What a great day it was! Beautiful weather, lots of people, and more fun than ever. The weather definitely made up for the soggy day we had last year.
If you didn't make it to the parade- or even if you did, but you want to see it again- the Lawrence Journal-World has full video coverage of the entire parade.
Our float was towards the end of the parade, so we're in the fourth parade clip. Our segment is about ten minutes into the 16 minute clip.
And now, for some pictures! I uploaded quite a few pictures last night to The Sandbar's Flickr photostream. You can see the pictures without having to sign up for Flickr; however, if you're already a member or want to be, you can also join The Sandbar's Flickr group and upload your own favorite Sandbar pictures.
Here are a few of my favorites:
After the parade was over, we spent about half an hour at the Flamingo Club. The awards were announced, and we were all excited to hear The Sandbar announced as the Honorable Mention winner in the Grand Prize category. Congratulations to the Kennedy Glass float for winning the Grand Prize Traveling Trophy this year!
When the award ceremony was over, we all boarded the Love Train for one final journey back to The Sandbar. We stopped in front of the bar and performed the dances one last time on the float and then headed inside to dance on the bar. The place was packed!
Peach and Ted drove the Love Train back to Baldwin, where it will be dismantled. We try to save as much of the lumber as possible to recycle into the next year's float. And of course, while we were warming up for this year's parade, we came up with an idea for next year!
We filmed some video of our float before the parade started, and then once we turned onto Massachusetts Street, we saw our friend Bill and handed off the video camera to him. He walked alongside us for several blocks and filmed some more. I hope to have that video posted by the end of the weekend.
by Debbi | Mar 16, 2009 | Newsworthy, St. Patrick's Day
I mentioned yesterday that the LJW sent a photographer over to our float home base to take some pictures. The pictures didn't appear in Saturday's paper like we though tthey would, and one black and white photo showed up in Sunday's paper to accompany the article.
Well, the Google alerts that never fail showed me that those pictures had, in fact, been published online- on Friday! The photographer must have gone straight to the newsroom from our house.
You can see the pictures that he took and get a look at our float in the middle of construction, complete with very serious looks from Dave.
