by Debbi | Jun 17, 2011 | Our Ghost, People, Stories
Clearly Sandbar ghost stories are a hit with our small but loyal audience. Our recent post about Dave's first sighting of the ghost got quite a bit of traffic.
According to Dave, the ghost had been quiet for a long time. Until recently, because of a good friend and regular who shall remain nameless because he is terrified of the ghost and he might lose credibility in his day job if we named him.
This friend decided to start looking into old city records to find out what businesses have been in our building in the past and see if there was a connection. Around that time, the ghost started acting up- and that's when Dave saw him.
The ghost also made an appearance the night of the infamous toilet-trashing episode. While the guys were cleaning the bar up after closing time, they heard the distinctive sound of a chiming doorbell coming from the bathroom. There is nothing in the bar that would make the sound of a doorbell.
Of course the recent ghost activity freaked our friend out, and he's decided to stop snooping in city records. (He also may never use the restroom in the bar again.) And the ghost has been quiet ever since.
by Debbi | Jun 16, 2011 | People, Stories
One night, Dave got a call from the bartender on duty.
"Casey and Randy are here and asking about you."
Dave went down to the bar right away. Now here's a strange story for you that shows just how small the world can be:
Casey worked at the Sandbar years ago. She used to work the Monday shift with Rachel, and Dave and his buddies went in to see them every week. (Apparently the girls wore bikinis while they tended bar.) This was before Dave even worked at the bar! Casey and Peach were good friends, too. Eventually, she moved on and lost touch with the Sandbar crew.
Randy played basketball at Hutchinson Community College with Dave. They were good friends, but like lots of people in the pre-Facebook age, they lost touch also. (What did we do before Facebook?!)
Somewhere along the way, Casey and Randy met and fell in love and got married. Now, they live in the Kansas City area and own the 5 Guys restaurants up there.
Pretty crazy that two people Dave knew nearly twenty years ago, from different places and times, have ended up together!
by Debbi | Jun 14, 2011 | Door Diaries, Stories
It's amazing the funny things you can hear just by standing outside the Sandbar for a mere five minutes.
Last Saturday night, I was waiting outside for Dave. A trio of college-age-ish kids walked up to the patio and stopped.
"You go first," one guy told the lone girl in the group. I'm not sure of his reasoning, maybe he thought the doorguy would be more open to questions from a girl?
"Tell them we've got fifteen people coming," he continued.
She kind of laughed and the three walked towards the door.
Then, one of the guys mentioned the cover charge.
The girl became indignant.
"What!" she exclaimed. "I don't pay cover at bars."
And just then, the door swung open as Dave came out, trapping the girl between the door and the wall. Don't worry, she wasn't hurt. But it was kind of funny. And good timing.
Karma seems to be in full force at the Sandbar. Read our last experience with it here.
by Debbi | Jun 13, 2011 | Events, Social Media, Web/Tech
Today, a slight deviation from the normal posts about stupid things people do in the bar, downtown events and other random stories that may or may not directly relate to the Sandbar.
The nice people at Philsquare, a local web development company, asked me to help teach a class about social media. It's a basic class, geared to small businesses and organizations here in Lawrence who want to learn more about how social media can benefit them.
Social media is not a magic solution, and it takes work. But I absolutely believe that it can do good things for a business. I'm excited to share some of the things I've learned while building up the Sandbar's presence in various online networks, like Twitter, Facebook and this blog. And trust me, I've learned a lot!
I'm teaching the class with Bailey DeReus, communications director for Philsquare and avid social media user. Here's the class description:
Interested in learning to use various social media platforms? Do you want to understand why using Twitter and Facebook can be successful to engaging customers and increasing business? In this workshop you will learn what services and work for your business and the strategy to making them successful. We will also discuss how businesses using social media locally have an impact on local consumers.
We'd love to see you there! It's only $25 for two hours of information, with plenty of time for questions.
The class is on Wednesday, June 22, at 7 p.m. It will be held in the computer lab at Van Go. If you're interested, please go here to register online.
If you know of a business or organization who might be interested, please pass this on!
by Debbi | Jun 12, 2011 | Birthday Party, Events, Stories
The Sandbar was full of parrotheads last night!
Kansas City-area Jimmy Buffett fans and members of the Parrothead Club converged on the Sandbar for their monthly "phlocking." They were decked out in vintage Buffett concert shirts, crazy hats, beads and all sorts of other attire that you don't normally see outside of a Buffett concert tailgate.
Tropical drinks were flowing and Jimmy Buffett tunes were constant. Two of the club members even got to be honorary mermaids during an early hurricane.
The parrotheads weren't the only ones in the bar, though. Early in the evening, a group celebrating a birthday showed up in bright neon outfits. It looked like an '80s theme party of some sort. A couple of the girls were even wearing neon tutus. They danced around the bar for awhile and did a 7-person shotski, and then moved on to the next place.
It was a fun night at the Sandbar, especially if you like Jimmy Buffett tunes!
