After a sad weekend that saw our beloved Kansas Jayhawks losing in the second round of the NCAA basketball tournament, we thought everyone could use some cheer.
Here's a short video clip of our castle float from this year's St. Patrick's Day Parade. One of our knights, "Showtime," was gracious enough to jump off the float at the beginning of the parade and film this for us.
We hope you enjoyed our float this year!
(After creating & uploading this video, I realized that we never uploaded footage of last year's parade float, the Crazy Love Train in Locomotion. When I run out of things to talk about here, rest assured it will be posted. Probably soon. There's also video of our float dancers warming up before the parade, which will be good for some laughs.)
The only downside to being IN the St. Patrick's Day Parade is that we don't get to SEE the parade. Our only chance to see the other entries is while we're lined up waiting for our turn down Massachusetts Street, or after the parade when we're all parked at the Flamingo Club in North Lawrence.
Here's a few of the floats we managed to see.
The group from Van Go Mobile Arts, a local arts program for teenagers, created a very colorful train. They won first place in the family division with this entry:
Our neighbors on New Hampshire Street, the Barrel House, participated in their first St. Patrick's Day Parade. The piano bar opened almost a year ago. They re-created their atmosphere onboard a trailer and took third place in the commercial division:
The group from Berry Plastics has built floats for the last several years, and they're always great. This year, they created a river boat called the Berry Belle and won second place in the commercial division:
I didn't get a picture of the first place winner in the commercial division- their float moved too fast for me. Pennington & Co. re-created the Lord of the Dance, and it was hilarious. Find a picture of it online if you can.
And the last picture for today: the grand float from Kennedy Glass and crew. They used hundreds of thousands of pomps and reams of chicken wire to recreate Campanile Hill. A leprechaun and a bunch of Jayhawks sledded down the hill into O'Potter's Lake- really. The big sled was actually a moving part and it was very cool:
Those are the only pictures I have of other floats.
Which is ironic, as that is a line from a famous Queen song, and we danced to another song by Queen on our award-winning float this year. Our rockin' medieval castle featured a medley of "We Will Rock You," "Dancing Queen," and "Jump Around." And of course, some favorite Sandbar dancing tunes.
Here it is:
(photo courtesy of David Bunker, father of Friday bartender Heather)
Last summer, while a group of random Sandbar staff and friends were playing volleyball in Dave's newly installed above-ground pool, Caroline suddenly said "We should build a castle float!" Yes, this is how far in advance we think about St. Patrick's Day. None of us could believe we'd never thought of a castle before, and we immediately came up with "Dancing Queen" as the theme song.
We got a late start building the float this year due to the uncooperative weather, but our construction crew rallied and took days off work and busted their butts to get this thing built. And it might be our biggest, most elaborate structure yet.
The dragon on the front was created by Art Director Brother Pants. Of course it didn't just sit there with its head poking out of the turrets- this creature moved and grooved to the music. Neighbor boy Pierce operated the dragon with a complex bicycle handle set-up, and we even rigged smoke to blow out its nose.
The parade took some detours in North Lawrence this year because of the construction near Johnny's. Of course our float was tall- and in the picture above, we hadn't yet attached the flags in the middle of each turret. They were easily unscrewed once we hit North Lawrence so we could avoid low hanging branches and power lines. The red rectangular boxes that sat on the turrets also had to come down after the parade so we could clear the bridge by Johnny's when we returned downtown.
We're very excited and honored that the Parade judges chose our float towin the Grand Prize traveling trophy. Kudos go to our favorite friendly float rivals, the crew from Kennedy Glass/Combs/Slow Ride Roadhouse for their awesome Jayhawk & leprechaun sliding down Campanile Hill. They even invited us over for burgers and beer on Tuesday night so we could check out each others' floats and meet the crews.
Also, our neighbors to the north on New Hampshire Street, the Barrel House, won third place in the commercial division. This is the first year they've entered, since they just opened their doors last April, and we hope they continue to participate in the parade with us.
If you have pictures to share, please email them to us (sandbar{at}thesandbar{dot}com) or upload them to our Facebook fan page or Flickr group.
The annual Lawrence St. Patrick's Day Parade starts tomorrow (that's March 17, if you didn't know) at 1 p.m. The action begins at South Park and heads north through downtown Lawrence, over the bridge, and through the construction in North Lawrence to end up at the Flamingo Club.
It's a long day for us. We get started early in the morning with last minute float preparations, dancing, and pizza for breakfast. By the time the parade's over, we're all worn out. Some of us go home, some party for awhile, and some of us keep going into the wee hours of the night. A few unfortunate folks- usually Dave- end up working behind the bar.
Here's a few parade and St. Patrick's Day related tips and ideas for you:
Get downtown early. Don't drive downtown if you don't have to. Bike, walk, or scooter if you can. The area is packed with people and cars.
If you're on Twitter, be sure to use the #lawstpats hashtag when you're tweeting about the parade. We're giving away some t-shirts, and the Bull 92.9 radio station is giving away some stuff too, including a $25 gift certification to Salty Iguana. Prizes awarded to random tweeters who use the hashtag.
If you're drinking, get a sober driver. Lawrence police are conducting a saturation patrol Wednesday night. (Actually, get a sober driver anytime you're drinking, not just because there's a saturation patrol.) Sandbar staff is happy to call a cab, call a friend, or as a last resort someone would probably even drive you home- it's been done before.
Looking for St. Patrick's Day themed drinks? Check these out from Fine Living Food & Drink. We don't have the ingredients to make most of them, but you can make them at home. Although, the Frozen Irish Banana sounds a little like the Dirty Banana…
Try cooking with Guinness. Our IT professional, Frank, will appreciate these recipes, courtesy of the Beeriety blog. If you like Guinness, you'll probably enjoy adding it to your food.
Use Smartphone apps to enhance your drinking experience. If you're using Android, Blackberry, Palm, or iPhone, there's an app for you courtesy of PC World. You can find a pub, play beer pong, or cure a hangover.
Our favorite friendly float rivals, the gang from Kennedy Glass, invited our crew over tonight for burgers, beers, and float viewings. After that, we've got some details to finish up. We'll see you tomorrow in downtown Lawrence!
