The Sandbar...Home of the Indoor Hurricane!

Saturday's a Big Day for the Sandbar

Saturday's a big day for the Sandbar crew!

Some of our staff and friends are participating in this year's Walk MS, a fundraiser for the National MS Society. This is the second year we've put together a team for the Walk, and so far I think we've raised more money than last year. But, in my recap of last year's event, I failed to mention our grand fundraising total, so who knows.

We've raised $2,636 so far! You can still donate if you're so inclined.

And this year, we added a new twist for our social media-obsessed friends: for every check-in on foursquare through April 30, the bar will donate a buck to the cause. We're close to $100!

Our walkers will descend on the bar afterward for a post party, which will morph into a pre-party for the event of the season: Jimmy Buffett's return to Kansas City!

We've chartered two buses to carry parrotheads to the show, and our pre-party officially starts at 2 p.m. We'll have food, drinks and parrothead hat-making supplies, and the buses will leave at 4:30 p.m. for the Sprint Center.

We even printed special commemorative T-shirts for the event! They're available in red, orange and green, and in a variety of sizes, for $12 each. The Sandbar logo is on the front, and a great graphic of "Stage Diving with Jimmy Buffett" is on the back.

We'll have plenty of stories after this weekend!

We're in the Lawrence Top 5 City Guide!

I spotted something cool on Facebook this morning: the Lawrence Top 5 City Guide. I love Facebook's way of telling us the pages that our friends liked; 9 times out of 10, that's how I find new, cool Facebook pages to follow.

The page is just what it says: a guide to the top 5 spots in Lawrence in several different categories like restaurant, bar and places to play. We're proud to be chosen as the #4 bar in Lawrence, and we're in excellent company among some of our favorites!

The page explains that a group of 30-something Lawrence residents who love Lawrence, so they got together and picked their favorite places. It's not scientific, they didn't poll the world and your opinion is likely to be different. Face it, favorite places are very personal and very subjective!

It's a very cool and beautifully designed photobook, highlighting some great places in Lawrence! Thanks for including us!

Image borrowed from the Lawrence, KS Top 5 City Guide Facebook page. Isn't it fabulous?! Go like it.

It's a Sandbar Baby!

Our little bartender is all grown up and has a baby of his own now.

We've seen Chris grow through the years...from birthdays to meeting his wife to getting married in Mexico. And then came a baby. Like any good former bartender, he wore his Sandbar shirt in the delivery room. (Check that picture out here.)

And now, the next generation:

Photo by Trisha Wills Photography. Like what you see? Contact her at trishwills{at}gmail{dot}com or find her on Facebook.

Buffett Party Bus

Jimmy Buffett returns to Kansas City this weekend!

We reserved a party bus to take us to the show, and our seats sold out before we could even advertise them. There's still been a lot of interest in our bus, so we decided to rent another one. But we've only got a few spots left, so if you want one, you better hurry.

Now, our first bus is a "luxury coachline" according to Peach. Our second one is not. But it will still get you to the show, and it will still be fun.

Here's the details:

• $25 per person
• Bus leaves the Sandbar at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday
• Bus returns after the show
• BYOB allowed on the bus (small coolers, please)

If you signed up on the first bus, there's no need to sign up again. Also, if you've already signed up on the first list, don't worry, you'll be on the "luxury" bus.

A sign-up sheet is available at the bar. Payment is required to reserve your spot. You can sign up in person or call the bar and pay over the phone.

We'll have a Buffett pre-party at the bar that day, too. Food, boat drinks and parrothead hat-making supplies will be available, so even if you're not riding our bus, come by for some fun!

(People on our e-mail list were notified about the second party bus first. If you want to get our news before the rest of the world, sign up for our email list.)

Hey, Stupid. Don't Steal Our Table.

Spotted on Dave's Facebook page, in the wee hours of the morning after the downtown shot put event:

Dear smart guys, not the brightest move to try and steal the Red Stripe table. Running with a table is a lot slower than without one. Hope you had a good night in jail.

Lots of comments and likes on that one. That night was like a full moon without the full moon.

Here's the story.

Two guys came in the bar to meet some friends. Later that night, out of the corner of his eye, Dave saw one of the guys hop over the patio railing and another guy lifted the patio table over the rail to him.

Dave yelled at doorguy John to get the table.

John and about five customers took off after the guys. One by one, the thieves peeled away from each other- eventually leaving just one poor shmuck hauling the table by himself. This table's not light, either.

Our crew of table-rescuers eventually caught up to the guy and knocked the table out of his grip. As luck would have it, a police officer was parked half a block away. He came over, cuffed the guy and took him away.

Dave feels sort of bad- all he wanted was the table. But hopefully these kids- and anyone else reading this- learned a lesson. Don't steal stuff, people! Just because you're drunk and you think it's a harmless prank, that's no excuse. (And also, your real friends wouldn't let you take the fall all by yourself.)

The kid came in the next day and apologized for "the incident." Kudos to him for stepping up and making the apology, we appreciate it.

Downtown Shot Put was Awesome!

Moving the Kansas Relays elite shot put event downtown, and more specifically, in front of our building, was pretty much the greatest idea ever.

The weather was great (if just a little bit chilly) and the crowd was estimated at 2,500 people. We were thrilled to be able to watch the shot put area construction right outside our window:

I even taught Dave how to post pictures on Twitter so he could keep Sandbar fans updated with the progress all afternoon. He did a great job!

We set up a trailer and portable bar behind the shot put area. Sandwiches from Sandbar Subs were available, and beer was allowed in the street. Our patio was full all night. The shot put event only lasted about an hour, which is shorter than we expected, but it brought out a great crowd for an event that most people have probably never seen before.

The shot putters were great, too. They stuck around all evening, signing autographs and taking pictures and maybe even putting a few shots somewhere else.

Here's a few pictures from our friends Wendy and Phil:

The night was a huge success!

Here are a couple other cool things to check out:

Nick Krug from the Lawrence Journal-World made an amazing time-lapse video of the entire event, including construction. His camera was on our roof.

Our Twitter buddies at Larryville Life wrote a recap of their shot put experience.

Dave was interviewed by the Kansas City Star on the roof of the bar. And by interviewed, we mean asked one question.

We wish we could keep the sand triangle. Who needs a street? As our Twitter friend @fxdgear said "Not me! Just a swimsuit, flippy-floppies and a drink with an umbrella!" We couldn't agree more.

Elite Shot Put Event Downtown on Wednesday!

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.

Sandbar Tee at Grays Peak

Bartender Danny recently traveled to Colorado for spring break and decided to climb a mountain. He had never climbed a mountain before, but since he's an Ironman, he can do anything.

Danny and his friend Delaware climbed a 14,000 foot mountain: Grays Peak. It's the ninth highest peak in Colorado. You can read all about his adventure on his blog.

Like a good Sandbar employee should, Danny took along his Sandbar shirt for a photo op.

Excuse Me, Can I See Your ID?

Last night, the Lawrence Police Department conducted bar checks around town. What does this mean? Basically, police officers go to bars, walk around and ask to see customers' identification. They're checking for fake ID's and no ID's.

A young lady was sitting at the bar celebrating her 21st birthday. She was having fun with the birthday attention, and Dave was entertained. He decided to have a little fun.

He caught the officer's attention, and slyly asked him to card the birthday girl.

The officer walked over to the girl and asked for her ID.

Officer: It's not her birthday!

Dave: What?!?

Apparently, her birthday was actually Wednesday and she was celebrating on Friday instead. Or, more likely, in addition. She stumbled around a bit explaining to Dave that she wasn't intentionally lying about her birthday.

At least the officer didn't say "She's not 21!"

Kansas Relays Downtown

We LOVE events taking place in Downtown Lawrence, and we especially love events that take place in our block.

This year, the Kansas Relays is trying something new: they're bringing three track and field events to downtown Lawrence!

April 20:

The elite men's shot put will be on 8th Street between Massachusetts and New Hampshire. The street will close at 6 a.m. to allow for set up of a shot put area. The competition starts at 6 p.m. and will end around 8 p.m. The street will reopen at 11 p.m.

We love that they chose our block for the shot put. We've already made all kinds of jokes about where we'll be putting our own shots that night.

Our friends from Richard's Music next door will also be playing a concert later that night, and beer will be available for sale also.

April 21:

The elite men's long jump will take place on the other side of 8th Street, between Massachusetts and Vermont.The street will close at 11 a.m., the competition starts at 6 p.m., and will end around 8 p.m. Again, the street should be open by 11 p.m.

Also that day, the Kansas Relays Street Mile will start in the 700 block of New Hampshire at 5:30 p.m. and finish in the 700 block of Vermont.

This event will impact several areas of Downtown Lawrence. The route wll go down New Hampshire, turn right onto 11th St., cross Massachusetts, and turn right on to Vermont. The intersections will temporarily be closed until all the runners pass through. The organizers anticipate the event should be completed by 5:45 p.m., and all streets will be reopened at 6:15 p.m.

We're super excited about these unique events being held downtown. The Kansas Relays take place every year, but many people in Lawrence never have a reason to be involved or even know it's going on. Bringing some of the events downtown is a great way to involve the whole community, and it gives us all something different to do for an evening!

We hope you'll all come out and help support these great events!

We got a nice mention in a KUSports.com column about the event by Tom Keegan today. Check it out!