The Sandbar now has an outdoor hospitality "area."

Ted brought the trailer today and helped load up the iron railing that Dave built. They hauled it to the bar, positioned it on the sidewalk, and installed it. Yep, it was just about that simple.

Ted operated the drill; he drilled about 28 holes into the concrete sidewalk- four for each post. He was surprised to find that the newer area of the sidewalk was easier to drill. That was a good thing, because most of the posts were sitting on more recently poured concrete.  Dave went around and screwed in the bolts. This railing isn't going anywhere, that's for sure.

Later this afternoon, Dave finished installing the bench seating. It's pretty cool- he made it so that the seat is attached, but flips up and down. At the end of the night, the staff can flip the seating up and lock it to keep random people from loitering (or sleeping) on the benches. Or, if for some reason we want to close the patio for drinking, we can pull up the seats.

A few of Dave's high school buddies, Jeff and Kevin, happened to be enjoying a few drinks at the bar when he arrived with the benches. They helped him put it in place:

And of course, photo documentation of the first drink on the patio.  (It's not *actually* the first drink, since Dave couldn't wait for me to get off work and enjoyed a dirty banana outside before I got there, but it's the only first drink I have a picture of.)

We sat outside for awhile this evening and enjoyed the new patio. Former staffers Ron and Erick joined us and we brainstormed lots of fun ideas to enhance the area, from removable cup holders to awnings.

It was a fun time until a bird on the overhead power line crapped on my sleeve. We definitely need an awning.

More pictures on The Sandbar's Flickr photostream.