The Sandbar...Home of the Indoor Hurricane!

Sandbar 2012 Graduate: Kamay

Congratulations to 2012 graduate and Sandbar friend Kamay! She answered our call for graduation profiles, so read on to learn a little bit more about one of our customers.

Favorite Song: Anything by Journey

How long have you waited? Never, I always come early! (smart girl!)

Favorite Drink: Bahama Mama

Favorite Drink Toy: The rubber duckies, I think I have every single one there is! Mostly in part because I would trade my double ducks with other people’s ducks at the bar. Bartering got interesting especially after a few drinks!

Funniest moment at the bar: When Danny and Dave re-enacted the famous water scene from Dirty Dancing. They were behind the bar and Danny ran into Dave’s arms and Dave lifted him up.

Favorite Memory at the Sandbar: Hanging out every Tuesday night after kickboxing class with Michelle, Danny and Dave.

Kamay has one last fun tidbit about the Sandbar: 

And that is where my boyfriend of three years and I met for our first blind date with John as our bartender/ door man!

It's true what they say, you can find love at the Sandbar.

Congratulations on your graduation, Kamay!

Congratulations Mike and Anne!

Sandbar friends Mike and Anne tied the knot on Saturday night, and we think it's about time!

Their wedding and reception was held at the lovely Stony Point Hall outside of Baldwin City. It was an outdoor wedding, and yes, it was cold. But it was beautiful and even funny, with references to Friends (the TV show) and The Wedding Singer movie during the ceremony.

The most surprising part? After the officiant- a friend of the family- introduced the couple as husband and wife and they started down the aisle, the Lawrence Bar Band started playing!

You don't get many opportunities to see the Bar Band outside of the bar, and this was pretty cool. They played KU tunes while the wedding party and guests headed back inside, and then they put on another show once everyone was back inside.

Here's a short video:

The happy couple hired Sandbar-tenders Blair and Andrew to man the bar all night, and they did a fine job. Even if they were dressed in white button-down shirts and ties instead of their typical T-shirts. Ask Andrew about the kids' table. 

Congratulations, Mike and Anne! Your friends at the Sandbar wish you many years of happiness and tropical drinks!

It's a Royal Wedding to Us

This is really old news, but we'll use the excuse that everyone was tired of hearing about the Royal Wedding, so we waited to post this on purpose.

You might have read this story in the Lawrence Journal-World already, or perhaps you missed it, but a local couple got married on April 29, the same day as Prince William and Princess Catherine.

We're much more interested in the local wedding story.

According to the article, the couple met at the Sandbar! Ashley and Glenn met at our place five years ago, and then three years ago we were part of their love story again when Glenn slipped her engagement ring into a pint glass at the bar.

We love Sandbar love stories! Ashley and Glenn, if you see this we'd love to hear more about the night you met and the night you got engaged. Congratulations!

And if anyone else out there met their love at the Sandbar, brought your wedding party here, or some other equally fun story, we want to hear about it. You can email us at sandbar (at) thesandbar (dot) com.

Wedding Party at the Sandbar

A few Fridays ago, we had a couple of unique things happen.

First of all, Peach made a rare appearance at the bar. If you're an old-school regular, you might remember the days and nights when Peach and Ted frequented the bar, staffed the door and even served drinks from time to time. More recent patrons may not even know Peach. She's pretty busy running the Crystal Plaza theater and the Sandbar Sub Shop in Ottawa, along with opening new franchises of the Sub Shop here in town.

The other unique event that Friday was a wedding party! I don't have all the details, but a couple who met at the Sandbar got married and stopped in to the bar that day in full wedding attire.

Peach took a picture on her phone of the bride and her bridesmaids dancing on a bench:

Bride, if you're reading this, we'd LOVE to hear your Sandbar love story! Contact us at sandbar@thesandbar.com.

We love it when wedding parties stop by!

Sandbar Wedding: Joe Factor and Teresa!

Saturday was a big day for the Sandbar family. Two weddings in a day- former bartenders Austin and Josie, and recent bartender Joe and Teresa.

Joe and Teresa got married in the Arts Incubator event loft in the Crossroads District of Kansas City. Holy cow, this place was gorgeous! The loft had old wood floors, exposed brick walls and glass windows all around the room that showed off a fantastic view of the Kansas City skyline. The thunderstorm and all its lightning only added to the beautiful night view.

 

The ceremony was short and sweet and very Joe and Teresa. And then they were married!

We ate, drank and danced. Tyler and his buddy Joe served as bartenders for the evening. There were toasts- some were funny, some were serious and some brought tears to the eye. And then they brought out Teresa's uncle dressed as a Cuban Elvis, and he sang some Elvis tunes while he read the lyrics from his phone. We've never seen anything quite like it!

There was almost a food fight. (Don't tell Teresa.) Dave convinced Andrew's girlfriend Jamie to shove a cupcake in Andrew's face, which led to Andrew conspiring to do the same to Dave- only filmed on camera this time. Andrew managed to waste a bunch of delicious cupcake frosting by smearing it on Dave's face, but unfortunately the camera girl failed to record it in time. 

Frequent Sandbar regular from several years ago Devo caught the bouquet. She's in Chicago now doing stand-up comedy. 

We managed to gather the Sandbar crew together for a group picture, and several random people kept trying to squeeze into the shot. We must have been a really cool group or something.

We danced and laughed and partied until after midnight, and then like true Sandbar staffers, we stuck around and helped put away the tables and chairs.

It was a fantastic evening and the wedding was beautiful. We highly recommend checking out the Arts Incubator if you're looking for a unique wedding or party venue in Kansas City.

And congratulations to Joe and Teresa on their marriage! They're in Emporia now, where Teresa practices law and Joe does...we don't really know. We miss them at the Sandbar!

 

Sandbar Wedding: Josie & Austin!

This has been the season for Sandbar family weddings! Bartender Heather and Ken, former bartender John and Natalie, former regulars Ashley and Tyson, and we're not done yet!

Josie and Austin- who both spent time on both sides of our bar- are tying the knot on Saturday. They didn't meet at the Sandbar but they've spent many hours together here. Austin worked here before Josie, and then when a shift opened up he recommended her to Dave and she spent about a year here.

Josie's favorite Sandbar memory is of Austin dancing on the bar to "Car Wash." She says it's the cutest thing in the world, because he doesn't love to dance but always get into that song. Austin said he couldn't top that memory. And he'd probably rather I not share it with you.

I borrowed this picture from Josie's Facebook page. Aren't they cute?

 

Got any great wedding advice for these two? Or, better yet, do you have fun memories of their bartending days? Share it with us in the comments, and we'll make sure they see it! 

Big congratulations to Josie and Austin from all your friends at the Sandbar!

Happy One Week Anniversary to Heather!

Well, the one week anniversary was actually yesterday, but whatever. Bartender Heather and her new hubby Ken have been married for a week! And they've been off soaking up the sun in Hawaii while the rest of deal with this unpredictable Kansas weather.

The wedding last Saturday was held at the Adams Alumni Center on the KU campus. Heather is a KU alum, and the groom- well, let's just say he's not. He's a Nebraska fan, and arrived at the wedding with a giant blow up Cornhusker in tow. It was tied around the Jayhawk statue in front of the building for a brief time, until the helpful staff at the Alumni Center assisted with removal.

After the wedding, the bride and groom made a brief stop at The Sandbar for pictures. Fitting, since they became engaged on the bar last year. They didn't get on the bar this time- large wedding dresses tend to make that difficult- but we took some pictures downstairs and also upstairs on the fake beach.

 

Next stop, the fabulous wedding reception at the Lawrence Country Club. Rumor around the club was that this was the biggest event they've seen in ten years- and I believe it. Lots of people, loads of great food, and the drinks were flowing.

The dance floor stayed packed, too. You probably notice that at most weddings, people have to be dragged on to the dance floor with a silly snowball dance, and the only people who actually stay on the dance floor are the little kids. Not this wedding. Young and old alike were dancing up a storm all night. Sandbar staff Dave, Tyler, and Andrew (Fyler not Madl) entertained the masses with their stellar moves.

When the reception finally wrapped up late that night, lots of us traveled to The Sandbar to cap off the evening. It was busy there, too.

Overall, it was a beautiful and fun day. Congratulations to Heather and Ken, we are all so happy for you!

Holy Twitter People, Batman!

That quote from doorguy/bartender Tyler's Twitter account sums up last night pretty well. He's pretty new to Twitter, and I think the size of the Free State Social tweetup crowd surprised him just a little.

We've had a busy week. And it's not over. Here's a quick run-down, with more to follow very soon.    

Free State Social Tweetup

Yesterday was the inaugural Free State Social, a social media conference held in Lawrence and put on by the World Company. It drew folks from all over Kansas and some from out of state who wanted to hear nationally known speakers like Chris Brogan, Jeremiah Owyang, Sarah Evans, and Shawna Coronado.

The evening event was a community tweetup open to all, and The Sandbar was one of the six participating locations offering specials. It was a hot spot all night.

Heather's Wedding

Friday bartender Heather is getting married tomorrow! Her rehearsal dinner is tonight along with an after-party at our neighbor, the Barrel House. Tomorrow's the big day, and we're excited for her!

Pictures and stories to follow next week, as whenever the Sandbar crew is involved, there are shenanigans to share.

Hearts of Gold Ball

This biennial (is that the right word? every two years?) fundraiser for the Lawrence Memorial Hospital is Lawrence's premier black-tie event. The Sandbar has catered the liquor for every ball since its inception. As luck would have it, the ball is scheduled for....tomorrow night.

Our staff will be busy working at the Sandbar, Hearts of Gold, or participating in Heather's wedding.

Let's hope we all survive the weekend!

Mom, Can I Date the Bartender?

Our staff certainly sees and hears some interesting stuff. This story is from bartender Danny.

Friday night I was bartending with Dave. It was a really fun night with a good mix of ages, and people were loading up the jukebox with really good dancing music all night long(rare). The two girls who had been our mermaids for the 10:00 hurricane had decided to do an encore performance and were back on the bar dancing. Both of these girls were at the bar with their mothers, who were also enjoying themselves immensely. 

The blonde one turned around to order a drink while she was on the bar, though I typically wait until they are off the bar until I serve them. After asking for a vodka+water, she said, "You're really cute. Hey Mom! Can I date the bartender?!?!" Hands down one of the funniest things I have ever heard while bartending.

A few minutes later, she took a flying leap off of the bar into the arms of a rather large man. My impression is that the man had perhaps mentioned that he COULD catch her IF she were to fall, however I believe she interpreted it as "Hey! Jump off the bar and I'll catch you!" Luckily, disaster was narrowly averted, as he was able to catch her without anybody suffering serious injury. Dave saw the whole thing and then made the proclamation that she was no longer allowed back on the bar. She tried to plead her case with me, but I very thankfully pulled the "Boss says so" card and she went on her happy drunken way.

Danny posted a brief version of this on his Facebook page. The comments after this post were even funnier. Jenny wanted to know when the date takes place. Frank joked that the girl really fell for Danny. Heather chimed in with her own quote-of-the-night: "you're so pretty it makes me want to get a job."

And Ashley, who was a Sandbar regular a number of years ago and ended up married to Bob, a former Sandbar employee, gave some good advice:

Be careful what you say. Bob always said he'd never date one of those drunk girls on the bar. Us drunk girls can be very sneaky. 

They've been together ten years now and have a baby boy.

No word on what the barfly's mom said about the date- but as we know, moms know best. Way back in the 90's, I only met Dave because I remembered how much my mom loved him as a KU basketball player. I introduced myself and asked for a picture, for my mom. Dave likes to claim he was mom-approved before she ever met him.

I never came close to nose-diving off the bar, though.

Sandbar Valentine Stories

In honor of the rapidly approaching Valentine's Day (hey guys- it's on Sunday! That's two days away!), we recently we put out a call for Sandbar love stories. We were looking for couples who met or fell in love at The Sandbar, or who shared some other significant milestone in their relationship with us like stopping here before their wedding.

Several of our fans responded with great stories!

Jaime said:

"My husband and I went to The Sandbar on our first date. He told me he loved me for the first time on a dollar bill on the wall that read "Bear loves Jaime". We partied there the night before our wedding and it is still our favorite place to this day! We loves you guys!"

Jaime and her husband visited us just last weekend. We're still looking for their dollar bill...but it might have been covered up by a picture by now. 

Ashley said:

"Bob and I met at the Sandbar!! I was a regular, thought Pat was a cutie so was there ALOT. Bob was always there as I was waiting in line on Tuesday nights and we just struck up a friendship. He broke the news to me that Pat was so old (uh, well to a 21 year old it seemed old, now it seems like a youngin'). Bob's smear campaign worked and he won my heart."

Bob was a long-time bartender/doorguy here (he also played drums with Sellout, for those of you who follow our local cover band). He and Ashley have an adorable baby boy who spend his early days in a Sandbar onesie. While Pat may be sad that he lost out on Ashley, we're all pretty sure he's relieved at not having a baby.

Jacki said:

"I met the love of my life there- there is a dollar bill asking to meet me in Hawaii to get married- that was our original plan- not with him and my heart hurts every day."

Unfortunately, not every story has a happy ending, but we were touched to hear this sweet story and know that we were part of it. We're also looking for this dollar bill. 

What's your Sandbar love story? Share it with us in the comments, and read past love stories here.