by Debbi | Apr 19, 2011 | Downtown, Events, Social Media
We're really looking forward to the Kansas Relays and the elite shot put event that takes place downtown tomorrow. The lines have been drawn on the street, and tomorrow morning they'll start setting everything up.
Here's a little bit about what will happen:
- The competition begins at 6 p.m. There's a field of eight throwers, who are all ranked in the top 25 in the world. The fact that these guys are elite professionals makes us feel a little better about the safety of our patrons. And our windows.
- The shot put weighs 16 pounds. Some of you could probably barely lift that, let alone throw it 70 feet.
- The event requires 18 dump-truck loads of crushed limestone so that the shot put doesn't break the street. We're kind of intrigued to see how long it takes to haul all of that away.
- There will be beer in the street. We'll be selling canned beer for $3 and Shark Attacks for $4. You still have to be 21 to drink and be prepared to show two forms of ID.
- Our friends from Richards Music next door have a band, and they'll be playing some music outside after the shot put event.
- We're also hosting a monthly Lawrence Tweetup tomorrow night, so there will be lots of folks on their smartphones, tweeting and Facebooking.
We're excited to see how this event goes! What a great event for downtown Lawrence. Apparently, this is the first time a shot put competition has been held on city streets in the United States. We're hoping for a great turnout so that Kansas Relays will continue bringing events downtown.
*Some of the details in this post were provided by this article on KUSports.com.
by Debbi | Mar 28, 2011 | Cool Stuff, Guest Blogs, People, Social Media, Stories
Editor's note: I discovered Team Cocktail on Twitter one day, and after perusing their website decided that they seemed like people who would hang out at the Sandbar. I asked them to write some guest blogs to introduce our friends to their lifestyle. No, I didn't get a free t-shirt in exchange for letting them talk about their products, just wanted to share their story.
We were very excited to be asked to join The Sandbar party by writing a few guest blogs. So here we are, ready to party! As you can tell by our name, Team Cocktail, we love cocktails…especially tropical beverages like the Hurricane. Since our company and designs are inspired by beaches and cocktails, and we're based out of Olathe, KS, it seems that The Sandbar and Team Cocktail have a lot in common! So, to start I'm going to give you a brief background on how Team Cocktail got started and answer a few questions. Now go pour a cocktail and let's have some fun Team Cocktail style!
Team Cocktail – The Story (2006)
Every great story begins in the Caribbean, right? To set the scene: think 28 friends on a cruise ship, 8 days, 7 islands and a boat load of liquid inspiration. We had a group, we needed a name and the obvious name was born: Team Cocktail.
The Brand (A few years later)
Sailing away from Barbados, a few martinis in, the Team Cocktail founders had an epiphany. Life is best enjoyed in a t-shirt, shorts and flip flops…and with a drink in hand. We always loved buying destination t-shirts from all of the local businesses but hated the way they felt and washed up when we would get them home. They were typically cheap, scratchy and would shrink to an unwearable size. So we decided to create our own beach & cocktail inspired t-shirts, hats, koozies and other accessories with an emphasis on quality. All of our shirts are a cotton/poly blend, so they are ultra soft to the touch and will not shrink. Thus you can wear them time and time again.
And so here we are a year later, and a few more martinis in, lawyers have been called, trademarks are registered and t-shirt designs are hot off the press.
Now on to the fun stuff!
How do you decide on new shirt designs? I was going to say something proper like "our shirt designs are inspired by a deep creative process where we look back on our favorite travel memories & cocktails." But let's be honest. Most of the time they are developed after we have had several drinks and then inspiration hits, or the buzz hits, and then we think every idea is fabulous. So the next day we look back through our notes and see which ones truly are funny, fun and representative of the Team Cocktail brand. We also work with the Kansas City creative agency Johnny Lightning Strikes Again who has great ideas and is able to bring our ideas to life!
How long have you been in business? We have been working on building the brand (i.e. developing designs, getting trademarks, etc.) for over a year. But went live with our website and first designs in December 2010.
What inspired the idea to actually create products & a business? Our mission is to create products that make people have fun, relax, and enjoy life as we do…one cocktail at a time. We really want to create quality products that people can enjoy while traveling or just spending time with friends. Team Cocktail is about having fun and enjoying what you do. We enjoy traveling and cocktails, so we made it our business. People always tell you to love what you do, well that couldn't be more true for us. We LOVE what we do, and we hope you do too!
If you made it to the end of this blog I'm sure your glass is empty so you better go get another. We hate for ice cubes to be lonely. Please check out our website www.teamcocktail.com where you will find our t-shirts, sweatshirts, hats, flip flops, bottle openers, slap koozies and much more. We are adding new products weekly and will soon be launching a men's board shorts line.
You can also find our blog there, where you can read about our travel experiences (focused on favorite beaches, beach bars, & bartenders), party times (pictures of our fans partying in TC style) and drinks (drink recipes we love, & love to make). We would love to hear from you so feel free to contact us on Facebook, Twitter, or through the website. You can also sign up for our newsletter to receive special discounts, new arrival announcements, and just fun stuff!
As you are traveling remember to TRAVEL GLOBAL, DRINK LOCAL!!
Cheers!
Team Cocktail
by Debbi | Feb 28, 2011 | Cool Stuff, Good Things, Social Media
Here's something unique you probably never knew you needed: a custom car emblem with your Twitter handle on it.
Local business skooladesign creates these fun emblems, but you don't have to have a Twitter account to have one. You could probably order any word or symbol you wanted. And you don't have to put it on your car- we aren't sure where we're putting ours yet. Maybe somewhere in the bar. Maybe on Andrew's car.
On a side note, it's an interesting story as to how we got this emblem.
Bill, the designer behind skooladesign, recently traveled to the Super Bowl with his father, who won the tickets in a contest. However, the prize didn't include airfare or a hotel. Bill's wife, Sarah, jokingly tweeted one day that if all of her Facebook friends and Twitter followers pledged a buck, she could send the boys on their dream trip.
Funny thing- people responded with offers of a dollar or five or ten, and before long Bill and his dad were on their way. You can read the entire story here and here.
Everyone who donated at least ten bucks was given a custom car emblem as a thank-you gift. So not only did we get to contribute to the experience of a lifetime, we also got a cool, unique gift in return.
by Debbi | Feb 13, 2011 | Cool Stuff, Social Media
We hit a social media milestone (in our eyes, anyway) last night: the one-thousandth check-in on the location-based social networking service Foursquare.
Foursquare, for the non-geeks among you, is an application that lets you "check in" at places you go- bars, restaurants, retail stores, gas stations- and share it with your friends. You can earn virtual badges for your check-ins, like the Swarm Badge we earned last spring when 50 people were checked into the Sandbar at the same time.
So last night, I noticed that check-ins at the Sandbar were quickly approaching 1000. I wasn't sure if we'd reach that number last night, but sure enough, Erika checked in and became the one-thousandth check-in.
(To be clear, these are not unique check-ins; the number of different people who have checked in on Foursquare is 372. But that tells me that a) there's still a lot of different people who have checked in to a bar that holds 49 people, and b) we have a lot of loyal, repeat customers.)
I sent a quick tweet to Erika thanking her for checking and offering her a free t-shirt. She responded almost immediately and Dave hooked her up with a prize.
See, social media can pay off with free stuff. We also have a Foursquare special that gets you free jukebox tunes for checking in, and we're working on some other fun and creative things too.
by Debbi | Nov 19, 2010 | Cool Stuff, Downtown, People, Social Media
Last week, we got a message on our Twitter account from local artist/podcaster/gallery owner/man of many things Jason Barr. He wanted to drop by the bar and do a Q&A about current events with some of our customers for his A.D.D. podcast. We have no experience with podcasts, but of course we said "sure!"
The finished product was released yesterday on iTunes (it's free!) and we downloaded it right away. It was a pleasant surprise to hear the first guest was none other than Frank, Sandbar IT/web consultant and regular Guinness drinker. (It shouldn't have been a surprise. Frank is frequently at the bar during the late afternoon/early evening hours.)
Frank talked about politics with Jason. Next, a couple of Marines who were in the bar celebrating the Marine Corps birthday got on the show. There were even a couple of girls who sounded college-age and talked about the toys in their drinks. Quite the variety of guests, which is typical of our customers.
Go listen for yourself! You can download the podcast for free here. While you're there, be sure to check out Barrr's other podcasts, like Hall Monitors and Story Slam.
Like the A.D.D. Arts Podcast on Facebook
Find Jason Barr at Wonder Fair Gallery in downtown Lawrence
by Debbi | Nov 17, 2010 | Social Media
Last Saturday, I stopped by the bar for a quick errand. A group of young people were sitting at the bar with drinks, talking to Coleen and fiddling with their phones. I heard one of the guys telling Coleen that he was checking in on Foursquare and that he was trying to become "mayor."
I was intrigued, because I haven't overheard customers talking about "checking in" and "foursquare" before. I asked him if he'd earned jukebox credits yet (a free perk after checking in three times between 5-9 p.m.) and he said he thought so.
The young man then said, "I think you should get a free drink or shot for being mayor!"
Unfortunately, many people don't understand that we can't do things like that because of Kansas liquor laws. We can't give away alcohol, and we can't even discount it. A drink has to be the same price, for everyone, all day. Thus, no happy hours.
We're thinking of changing our Foursquare special soon. Any suggestions? Legal ones only, please.
Oh, and if you want to knock off Caroline as the mayor, you're going to have to keep checking in.
