by Debbi | Nov 1, 2009 | Halloween, People
All of us at the Sandbar love any holiday that encourages costumes- heck, we look for any excuse to dress up and often create our own reasons.
Halloween is, of course, one of our favorites and we love to see the creativity of our customers and staff.
On the Friday before Halloween this year, the B+ team (or whatever they're calling themselves these days) of Blair, Tegan, and Andrew wanted to work together because they had a great group costume planned.
Karate Kid– everyone's favorite 80's movie.
Tegan went all out to transform herself into Mr. Miyagi, the karate instructor. You might think that Andrew, the resident "kid" of the bar, would be Daniel-san, but instead he was one of the mean Cobra Kai's. Blair, our athletic rugby player, was Daniel the Karate Kid.
And to complete the whole experience, the Karate Kid movie played on one of the TV's above the bar all night.
The group rocked this costume again on Saturday night. They even added another Cobra Kai, our friend Erick.
by Debbi | Oct 25, 2009 | Bar Band, KU Football, People
Friday brought another busy night and another visit from the Bar Band!
We had some Oklahoma Sooner fans in the house- we always think it's fun for the opposing team's fans to see a tiny marching band invade the bar to play the KU fight songs. Wonder if any other Big 12 schools have a similar bar band that travels around town the night before a game?
Obviously, this tuba isn't used on game day. It's message pretty much sums up the Bar Band!
We had a line for most of the night on Friday. Lots of regulars, lots of football fans, and even a 30th birthday party.
The 10 pm hurricane featured brand new mermaids- these girls had never even SEEN the hurricane and had no idea what they were getting into when they agreed to put on the costume! (Don't tell anyone, but one of the girls is also a Mizzou fan! She thought the bar band was cool, though.)
It wasn't a very rowdy crowd, considering it was a Friday and the night before a football game. Usually after the hurricane, we do several more Sandbar favorite bar dancing songs, but this night we stopped after Car Wash because the crowd just wasn't into it.
One of my friends who managed to get in the bar just before the Bar Band started had a video camera and filmed them. Once he gets the video ready and posts a link, I'll share it here so you can experience Friday's performance even if you weren't there.
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 | Oct 22, 2009 | Events, Good Things, People
Every year for the past I don't know how many years, the Lawrence Memorial Hospital Endowment Association has hosted the "Stepping Out Against Breast Cancer" Dance in October, usually just before Halloween. This is a night of entertainment and fun that also raises money for the Douglas County area. Proceeds benefit mammograms for the uninsured/under-insured, wigs and prosthetics for those who can't afford them, and education and awareness material.
You might be wondering what this has to do with The Sandbar. I'm going to tell you.
Long time bartender Coleen has volunteered for the decorations committee for the dance for a number of years now. She puts in time coming up with ideas and creating decorations, as well as actually going to the site and decorating the day before and the day of, and helping clean up on Sunday.
Another tie that we have to the LMHEA is our fearless leader Peach, who is on the Board of Directors. And, our friend Heather (not the bartender, but a Bahama-Mama loving customer) is employed by LMHEA and helped put this whole thing together.
The point of all this?
This year's event will be held on Saturday, October 24, at 8 p.m., at Crown Toyota in Lawrence. You should go. It will be fun.
Get out your best costume, grab a date or a bunch of friends, and head out for a night of dancing while helping to raise money for a good cause.
For more information about ticket prices or volunteer opportunities, contact LMH at 785-505-3315.
Edited: Oh no! I knew I'd leave someone out of this post, and sure enough, I did. Forgot to mention another Bahama-Mama loving customer, Becki, who is also employed at LMH and serves on the Dance committee. Of course the one I've known the longest is the one I forgot to include…sorry Becki!
by Debbi | Oct 19, 2009 | Bar Band, People, Sandbar Love Stories
Last week I promised more stories from Homecoming weekend, but I also wanted pictures, and unfortunately someone kept leaving the camera at the bar.
I talked about the Bar Band already but didn't mention some Very Important People who stopped by to see them play. Peach and Ted, creator and long-time owners of The Sandbar, don't visit very often anymore because they're so busy running their other four businesses, plus a farm, plus family, and all the other stuff they're involved in. But every once in awhile they make an appearance, and Friday was one of those times.
The Bar Band was lined up outside and ready to play, but we had to ask them to wait until Peach and Ted could get here. They had some hunters staying at the Lodge of Baldwin City– Italian hunters here by way of Pennsylvania. Of course they had to see an indoor hurricane in Kansas while they're here!
(Just in case you couldn't tell who the hunters were, I drew a nice arrow and wrote their names on the picture.)
At just about the opposite end of the spectrum that night, we also entertained a wedding party. But not just any wedding party- the groom is the cousin of Hayley, our Wednesday (and sometimes weekend) bartender.
Chris is in medical school and lives in Colorado, and he got married in Lawrence on Friday. After the wedding and reception, much of the party traveled to The Sandbar, where of course the bride and groom danced on the bar in their wedding finery.
It's not the first time a bride and groom have been fun-loving enough to hop up on the bar and dance, and it probably won't be the last. It's always fun when the couple is part of the extended Sandbar family though.
Congratulations to Chris and his new bride, and Hayley's family!
by Debbi | Oct 18, 2009 | Door Diaries, People
So, a friend of ours was in the bar awhile back with his girlfriend or employee or someone, I forget, and they were talking to Dave. The young lady with our friend was asking all kinds of questions about The Sandbar, and who worked here, and who owned it, and who was married to who.
She knew that Peach is the owner (bonus points for that!), but she also thought that Peach still regularly worked a shift at the bar.
"No," said Dave, "she hasn't worked a regular bar shift in a long time. Now, if she comes in to visit, she'll get behind the bar and relive the good old days, but it doesn't happen too often anymore."
"Yes, " insisted the girl, "she works every Saturday, I've seen her in here."
"No," Dave said again, "that's not Peach. Coleen works the Saturday afternoon shift."
After Dave finally convinced her that Peach and Coleen are not the same person…..come to find out, this poor misguided young lady also thought that the Saturday early shift staffer was Dave's wife.
I *really* need to spend more time down there…this is not the first time that Dave has been "married" to someone else!
