Last weekend a group of sorority girls stopped by The Sandbar on their senior pub crawl downtown. They took the time to pose for a group shot upstairs on our beach while trying to finagle future jobs from Dave.
The picture's quite ironic- lots of Ugg's, coats, and other cold-weather attire in front of palm trees and sand.
These girls have clearly posed for lots of pictures- they arranged themselves in record time. We loved their matching pub crawl shirts.
The last few days have been a flurry of activity and hurricane snow at The Sandbar!
Thursday was bartender Hayley's 23rd birthday. Hayley is one of our newest employees but she's actually been here for about a year and a half.
A random group of friends and assorted Sandbar staff helped her celebrate. Of course there was a birthday hurricane involved:
And then on Friday night, it was Bettina's turn to be the birthday girl. She was determined to wear the mermaid costume this year after another birthday girl beat her to it last year.
Heather even stuck around after her shift was over and danced on the bar.
That wasn't all, though- for a Friday night that was relatively light on customers, there was still a lot of activity.
Our friend Ashley was back in town for a visit this weekend. She moved to Baltimore almost a year ago, but she's been back to visit a few times. Dave made this Tennessee native's night when he played "Rocky Top" on the jukebox near the end of the night.
A group of sorority girls on a senior pub crawl stopped by for a visit before they made their way down Mass Street.
And, my day-job friend Lacey brought in a few friends to celebrate her last few days in Lawrence. She's hitting the road for Fort Worth and TCU next week to start a new job. Everyone needs a hurricane to send them off in style.
And that was just Thursday and Friday. Who knows what will happen tonight when Ashley hits the bar again!
More pictures on our Flickr photostream and our Facebook page.
Last night was our inaugural Rocky Horror Picture Show party bus extravaganza, and judging by the amount of fun that was had, it might become an annual event!
The party started at The Sandbar in Lawrence, where about 30 of us gathered to wait for the bus. A majority of us were dressed in costume from the movie- lots of Brads and Janets and french maids.
We posed for a group picture before boarding the bus:
And then we were off! We traveled down the country roads to Baldwin City and made several more stops to pick people up. We even drove right by Tony and Robin's house near Baldwin- after they had made a crazy effort to meet the bus in Lawrence on time. Next time we'll pick you up on your corner!
The bus continued on to Ottawa, bouncing over potholes along the way and inspiring more than one person to beg the driver to stop alongside the road so they could have some "relief." The begging didn't work.
We finally made it to the Sandbar in Ottawa, and our crew partied with the folks in Ottawa for about half an hour. Of course there was bar dancing:
If you can't tell from the picture, Dave is sort of doubled over. The ceilings in Ottawa are much shorter than the ones we're used to and he barely fits up there!
Everyone loaded back up on the bus and we headed downtown to the Crystal Plaza movie theater. The Sandbar rented out the place for a private showing of the Rocky Horror Picture Show, complete with props like water guns, party hats, and newspapers.
I've never seen the movie in it's entirety, but I was relieved to find that more than a few other attendees were newbies too. One of the funniest stories from the night was about the person who kept asking everyone to be quiet, because she was trying to watch the movie!
Half of the crowd ran to the front of the theater and danced to the Time Warp song during the movie:
Kudos to Movie Dave and Scotty Mac, who kept the crowd entertained during the entire show with their constant commentary. They've apparently seen the movie more than once. And we can't figure out why Movie Dave won't dress up for Halloween or any other holiday, but yet he's willing to go out in public dressed like Brad…
After the movie everyone loaded back up on the bus and we retraced our route home, dropping folks off at random corners in the country. The ride home was a little more subdued- perhaps because the coolers were pretty empty.
The bus got back to the Sandbar in Lawrence before closing time, so we had a few minutes to catch up on the happenings of the evening with those who had to stay behind. Lots of people in the bar were excited to pose with some of our characters.
All in all, it was a fun event filled with Sandbar staff and regulars, along with some new faces we hope to see again!
More pictures from the event are available on our Facebook page or Flickr photostream. We also created a Whrrl story during the event, but because the iPhone has such a poor camera, the pictures aren't very good quality.
And our second-favorite holiday of the year! (The first being St. Patrick's Day, if you've somehow missed this information.)
For some of us Halloween has already started, given that there were parties this weekend and costumes were spotted in the Sandbar on Saturday night.
We encourage you to stop by the Sandbar anytime this week wearing your favorite disguise! We also have several events planned that you might want to put on your calendar.
This Friday, load up on our party bus and travel to Ottawa for a special Sandbar screening of the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Meet us at The Sandbar at 7 pm; the movie starts at 10 pm. We haven't decided what time the bus will leave Lawrence yet, but as soon as I know, I'll post it here.
For $25 per person, you get a designated driver to and from Lawrence; fun and refreshments on the party bus; movie tickets; and a goody bag for the movie. That's a bargain when you consider the fun we'll provide. Oh, and costumes are encouraged, whether they're costumes from RHPS or whatever you want to wear.
Halloween in Lawrence
On Saturday night come back to The Sandbar for our annual Halloween extravaganza, complete with the costume contest that we always forget to actually have. We'll try to remember this year. Prizes for the winners, as voted on by the crowd.
There will be a cover charge. Give the doorguy your best trick, though, and maybe he'll waive it. Don't be a jerk or he might double it.
Halloween in Ottawa
If you're in Ottawa on Saturday night, come out to our second Sandbar location. The Cash Cage is back! Starting at 8 pm, everyone in a costume is eligible to jump in the Cash Cage and try to win! We'll have $200 up for grabs, but you have to be in costume to participate!
We'll have pictures from all the events to share next week- feel free to send us yours, too!
Halloween– one of our favorite days of the year- is rapidly approaching, and we've got a special treat for you!
We rented a party bus, and we're looking for a bunch of our favorite fans to take a trip to Ottawa on Friday, October 30, for a special Sandbar-only screening of the Rocky Horror Picture Show!
Peach and Ted, longtime Sandbar owners, also own the recently renovated Crystal Plaza Movie Theater in Ottawa and are excited to host our group for the night.
Interested? Here are the details:
There's a sign-up sheet at the bar, and the staff will gladly take your money. You can call and pay with a credit card, too. We encourage you to sign up in advance- space is limited (it always is at the Sandbar!), so don't wait until the night of the party.
Of course, we also highly encourage costumes and audience participation!
If you've never been on a Sandbar party bus before, let me tell you that the bus trip alone is worth the $25, and I have pictures to prove it. This is a trip you won't want to miss.
Last Saturday afternoon, The Sandbar welcomed the Lawrence Pub Crawl participants to our little watering hole.
The Lawrence Pub Crawl is a benefit event for the H2 Foundation, which supports local charities through its grant process. The H2 Foundation has supported charities in the Kansas City area for awhile now and recently expanded to the Lawrence/Douglas County area.
A lot of our neighboring bars along Massachusetts Street participated in the crawl. The event was held during the day, which was perfect for us- we aren't normally very busy on a Saturday afternoon, but we're so small that if the event were held at night, we wouldn't be able to accommodate the teams.
Lots of our friends formed teams of anywhere from 5-12 members, paid their entry fee, and got their route of bars to visit. It sounded like a lot of fun! Maybe next year we'll sign up a Sandbar team.
I have a Polaroid picture of Blair and Joe from one of their stops….but I decided it would probably embarrass Blair if I posted it online. I decided to be nice.
Did any of you join the pub crawl? Any favorite stories or pictures to share?