A favorite tradition of local Lawrencians- and people from far, far away, too- is the annual Downtown Lawrence sidewalk sale.
It takes place every year on the third Thursday of July, and this year promises to be a hot one. Hot, temperature-wise and bargain-wise.
We don't really do anything for the sidewalk sale, since we're a little bit off the beaten path of Mass Street, but we do have cool drinks and popcorn to snack on.
A few things to know about the sale:
The city bus system, the T, is FREE this year on sidewalk sale day! All fixed routes are free all day, and the bus is in service from 6 a.m.-8 p.m. More details here.
If you're tweeting about the sidewalk sale, be sure to use the hashtag #swsale. If you can fit #Lawrence in your tweet, use that too.
Did you know? The sidewalk sale is put on every year by Downtown Lawrence, Inc. DLI is a not-for-profit membership organization that was created to promote downtown. Members include retail, bars, restaurants, service providers and other downtown businesses.
Also, your esteemed bartender/manager Dave is president of the board of DLI! So be sure to come out and support the annual sidewalk sale tomorrow.
Most people would never notice a new ice machine in their favorite bar. But when the new ice machine churns out pellet ice, or rabbit turd ice or Sonic ice, we bet you'll notice!
Everyone we know seems to be a fan of Sonic ice- the crumbly little pellets of ice that people love so much, they buy it by the bag at Sonic. And Taco John's, too.
Dave investigated and tested and tested some more before decided to make the leap. He wanted to make sure the ice didn't melt faster than our other ice, or cause our drinks to be out of balance with more/less/different ice.
The verdict: good.
So the new ice machine is here, and you can now enjoy Sonic ice with your favorite tropical drinks!
Happy hour is legal again in Kansas as of July 1. Hooray!
A long time ago on a trip to Vegas, Dave discovered a wheel of fun in a bar. They spun the wheel, sort of like Wheel of Fortune, and whatever it landed on dictated the special for the next hour, two hours, whatever period of time they wanted.
Obviously, since happy hour wasn't legal, we couldn't do the same thing here, but Dave modified their idea into what you might know as our shot wheel. Or the wheel of misfortune.
Now that happy hour is legal, Dave is thrilled that he can implement his original plan.
And he's bought a new wheel. It's very fancy.
Behold, the Wheel of Happyness:
Dave created some specials and the wheel is ready to go. Come in and check it out sometime!
Sandbar fan Allyson is working in Rome as an au pair. She took a three day trip to Cinque Terre, a region with five small fishing village in northern Italy that are connected by hiking trails.
Allyson said she saw about five other Jayhawks on her trip! Rock Chalk!
If you've worn your Sandbar shirt someplace fun, let us know. We'll put it online and on our wall of fame!
'Tis the season for bachelorette parties, birthday parties, wedding parties and just about any other kind of party you can imagine.
Recently, we saw a "bachelorette" party that we've never seen before.
It was a Tuesday night, and Dave said a group of girls came in. They informed him that they had three bachelorettes in their party. He thought this was odd, but didn't ask. He assumed they were just a group of friends who happened to have three among them getting married over the summer, so they decided to celebrate together.
He said they were more subdued than the usual rowdy bachelorette parties we see (and they were probably a lot more polite) but he didn't think much of that, either, since it was a Tuesday night.
At one point, though, when one of the young ladies came up to the bar, Dave asked the question.
"So, three of you are really getting married?"
No one was actually getting married, she said. Instead, the girls were students at Benedictine College, and three of the girls in the group were getting ready to enter the convent. Married to God, we presume.
Yes, you read that correctly. No, I'm not joking. (Unless they were, in which case, they totally fooled Dave.)
So to wish their friends well, they made the trek to Lawrence to celebrate at the Sandbar.
And because we know you're wondering, yes some of them were drinking, but no, none of them were crazy and obnoxious about it.
So, congratulations to these young ladies, and we appreciate that they thought of the Sandbar. You truly can celebrate anything here.
