by Debbi | Nov 30, 2011 | Christmas, Downtown, Events, Good Things, Pub Crawl
SantaCon 2011 is coming to town!
Last year we participated in the inaugural SantaCon in downtown Lawrence, and we're excited to be part of this event again this year!
What is SantaCon? “SantaCon is a mass gathering of people dressed in Santa Claus costumes parading publicly on streets and in bars in cities around the world. The focus is on spontaneity and creativity, while having a good time and spreading cheer and goodwill," according to Wikipedia.
SantaCon Lawrence also incorporates a bit of charity: a food drive to benefit Just Food, the local food bank.
Here's the details for this year's extravaganza:
- When: Saturday, Dec. 17
- Time: 2 p.m.
- Where: Starts at the Sandbar and travels to downtown Lawrence bars
Food donations will be accepted at the Sandbar all day on Dec. 17, so even if you can't participate in SantaCon you can still donate non-perishable food.
Be sure to find a Santa costume! Check out Fun & Games or the Antique Mall in downtown Lawrence for suits or accessories. Or, be creative and make your own!
For more information about SantaCon Lawrence, including the rules, visit the website. You can also like the SantaCon Lawrence Facebook page or RSVP to the event on Facebook.
by Debbi | May 31, 2011 | Downtown, Events, Pub Crawl
It's time for the Lawrence Young Professional Network's annual Putt Putt Pub Crawl!
This event has been going on in downtown Lawrence for many years now, and the Sandbar has been a participant nearly every year. (Read about last year's event here.)
What is it?
A tour of downtown Lawrence bars, where each bar has created their own putt putt hole. The participants socialize, drink and attempt to sink the ball in the hole at each bar.
When is it?
This Friday, June 3, starting at 6 p.m.
What bars will we go to?
According to the LYPN Facebook page, there are four bars participating: Fatso's, the Eldridge, Quinton's and the Sandbar. They haven't announced the starting point or the route yet, but more details will come soon.
The event is free! And there are prizes! You know the Sandbar crew loves costumes, so we're especially excited that there are prizes for best dressed male and female golfers. There's also free pizza at the last stop, donated by Papa John's.
Don't be scared by the words "young" and "professional." This is a great way to socialize and meet other Lawrence people. Focus on N for network if it makes you feel better!
Be sure to sign up here if you want to participate. We hope you do, we're looking forward to a fun night!
by Debbi | May 16, 2011 | Bachelorette Parties, Birthday Party, Guest Blogs, Our Ghost, Pub Crawl, Stories
Here's a guest blog from long-time bartender Heather, works the Friday 5-9 shift. Last Friday was Heather's first shift back after several days off, and it happened to be Friday the 13th. Welcome back, Heather!
Friday the 13th, another Friday night down at The Sandbar- or so I thought walking in the door. That was before five bar crawls, a bachelorette party and a birthday celebration made their way through our doors. Yes, that’s right: five bar crawls in just four hours.
One group of bar crawlers got out the super long shotski, one group sang their sorority song, there were matching T-shirts, Dirty Banana shots, Shark Attacks, Bahama Mamas, broken glassware, yelling, hugging, and photo-taking. One group had a guy calling out the remaining time in the bar, which, having been on a bar crawl or two, I thought was awesome.
Most of our patrons were quite patient with the ruckus and, in fact, seemed amused by all of it. In addition to all of the festivities we had old friends, new friends, a just-turned-21-year-old and his family, a cute little guy in his stroller, a soon-to-be-married couple out on a date, a potential romance blooming and, of course, some KU Grads.
Personally, I think the ghost may have even been in attendance as well. We have a handy step stool for those of us who aren't Dave’s height. I was getting down from pulling a couple of T-shirts and missed the bottom step. Instead of crashing to the floor I just kind of… landed. Okay, so it isn’t that far to the ground, but I am a klutz of the highest order. Which was unfortunate for Phil on this particular night as I did actually stomp on his foot once or twice.
At the end of it all I can’t help but think that Jimmy Buffet could probably turn this particular night into one heck of a song!
The night was so full of entertainment that we'll have several more guest blogs from Heather about the evening. Stay tuned!
by Debbi | May 9, 2011 | Downtown, Events, Pub Crawl
Last Saturday, downtown Lawrence was inadvertently the host of yet another crazy event: the Running of the Bullsh*tters.
This themed pub crawl required costumes (of course!) and was the brainchild of former Sandbar staffer Erick. He traveled to Spain last year and saw the famous Running of the Bulls, and decided that if we can't have exactly that in Lawrence, this was the next best thing.
Participants were asked to wear white pants, white shirts and red sashes. A lucky few were selected to be the bulls.
The pub crawl started off at the Sandbar and then the bulls herded everyone south to the Granada:
A cardboard cut-out of Michael Jordan that was inexplicably in the Sandbar's upstairs office made the trek, too. Someone apparently found humor in having a member of the Chicago Bulls along for the ride and his likeness was taped to a wooden oar.
Stops included the newly-reopened Jefferson's, the downtown Lawrence sign at the corner of 6th and Massachusetts and then a trip across the river to Johnny's.
Erick did a great job organizing this fun adventure. The weather was great and everyone enjoyed running (or walking) along Massachusetts, enjoying food and drink at some of our favorite places.
Maybe we'll do it again next year!
by Debbi | May 7, 2011 | Downtown, Events, Off the Wall, Pub Crawl
Last Saturday was ridiculously busy; in fact, it was one of our best sales days in a long time. Along with the Jimmy Buffett pre-party crowd and passengers on our party buses, a charity pub crawl was happening in downtown Lawrence. Even though we don't participate in the pub crawl, many of the teams stop by the Sandbar in between their official stops.
One of the teams, Team Brewhawks according to the message they so politely left ON OUR BUILDING, apparently had a little more time to play than the others.
When we got back from Jimmy Buffett later that night, we found this graffiti scrawled outside in between our windows.
So, Team Brewhawks, thanks very much. It's one thing to write on a bathroom wall (which we still don't love), but it's another to write on the outside of our building. Please, people, don't do this. Dave's already painted over it, but believe me he had plenty of other things to do without spending time on this.
by Debbi | May 3, 2011 | Events, Jukebox, Pub Crawl, Stories
The buses were loaded and we were off to Power & Light!
After what seemed like an extremely short trip- most of which was spent, at least on bus #2, trying to get the sound system working so we could listen to Sandbar music, and also dodging the slow-to-move Ktag gates at the tollbooth on I70- we arrived at the Kansas City Power & Light District.
As soon as everyone could hop off the buses, our Sandbar crew disappeared into the throngs of parrotheads. Grand Boulevard was closed for a block or two, and there were some random booths set up in the street, but the real party was in the KC Live area. A tropical band was playing and there were parrotheads everywhere.
We realized quickly while walking through the crowds that a lot of people had heard of the Sandbar. Many people in our group had on our commemorative concert T-shirts, and everywhere we went we heard "Hey, Sandbar!" or "It's Dave from Sandbar!"
Surprisingly, it didn't take long to find people we knew in the huge crowds. Brit and Megan, a pair of former bartenders who met at the Sandbar while working together on Saturday nights and are now married, met up with us at Johnny's Tavern:
We traveled from bar to bar, which is easy to do in the P&L with its open arrangement and lax Missouri liquor laws. We started at Johnny's Tavern, where we also found our man on the street Pat, and wandered back to the tropical-themed Shark Bar, which Dave has never visited. At Shark Bar, we ran into a couple who love the Sandbar so much that when they got married last year, they stopped at the bar with their wedding party before going to their reception:
And finally, after realizing Shark Bar can never be as cool as our own tropical bar, we moved downstairs to Pizza Bar, where we ran into some more familiar faces. Stay tuned for stories about our fun at Pizza Bar, because they're good ones.
