by Debbi | May 3, 2011 | Events, Jukebox, Pub Crawl, Stories
The buses were loaded and we were off to Power & Light!
After what seemed like an extremely short trip- most of which was spent, at least on bus #2, trying to get the sound system working so we could listen to Sandbar music, and also dodging the slow-to-move Ktag gates at the tollbooth on I70- we arrived at the Kansas City Power & Light District.
As soon as everyone could hop off the buses, our Sandbar crew disappeared into the throngs of parrotheads. Grand Boulevard was closed for a block or two, and there were some random booths set up in the street, but the real party was in the KC Live area. A tropical band was playing and there were parrotheads everywhere.
We realized quickly while walking through the crowds that a lot of people had heard of the Sandbar. Many people in our group had on our commemorative concert T-shirts, and everywhere we went we heard "Hey, Sandbar!" or "It's Dave from Sandbar!"
Surprisingly, it didn't take long to find people we knew in the huge crowds. Brit and Megan, a pair of former bartenders who met at the Sandbar while working together on Saturday nights and are now married, met up with us at Johnny's Tavern:
We traveled from bar to bar, which is easy to do in the P&L with its open arrangement and lax Missouri liquor laws. We started at Johnny's Tavern, where we also found our man on the street Pat, and wandered back to the tropical-themed Shark Bar, which Dave has never visited. At Shark Bar, we ran into a couple who love the Sandbar so much that when they got married last year, they stopped at the bar with their wedding party before going to their reception:
And finally, after realizing Shark Bar can never be as cool as our own tropical bar, we moved downstairs to Pizza Bar, where we ran into some more familiar faces. Stay tuned for stories about our fun at Pizza Bar, because they're good ones.
by Debbi | May 2, 2011 | Events, Jukebox, Pub Crawl, Stories
The event the Sandbar crew has waited for for years happened last weekend: Jimmy Buffett's return to Kansas City with the "Welcome to Fin Land" tour.
The party started early Saturday afternoon at the Sandbar. We had a pre-party with boat drinks, parrothead hat-making supplies and Ted cooking beer brauts on a grill outside. The bar was full of partiers by 2 p.m.- most of them were parrotheads with spots on our party bus to the show, but teams on a local charity pub crawl taking place downtown also detoured from their route and stopped by.
Peach had fun making a party hat for the concert, and bartender Andrew and his girlfriend Jamie decorated their brand-new commemorative concert shirts.
Our two party buses pulled up at 4 p.m. We had nearly 80 people signed up for a fun ride to the Power & Light District! Passengers ranged from staff and regulars to hard-core Parrotheads of all ages. We loaded up our buses and headed for Kansas City.
It was such a beautiful day in downtown Lawrence to be on our patio! If you were there, we'd love to see your pictures. You can email them to us at sandbar@thesandbar.com, or upload them to our Facebook page.
More stories to come…
by Debbi | May 1, 2011 | Events, Good Things
For the second year in a row, the Sandbar sponsored a team in the annual Walk MS, a fundraiser for the National MS Society.
Unfortunately, a number of our friends and regulars suffer from multiple sclerosis, so we're happy to help support research for a cure.
All of our team members who raised at least $25 got a free green Sandbar T-shirt to wear, and everyone who showed up to walk sported their new shirt.
We walked a little over 3 miles on a beautiful day in west Lawrence. Our team has raised a total of $2796- second place among the participating teams!
And, the Sandbar will donate an additional $100 to the total from our Foursquare check-in special. Every check-in at the Sandbar on Foursquare during the month of April was worth a $1 donation to the cause. We had slightly under 100 check-ins, but we're rounding our donation up.
After the walk, our team members moved on the Sandbar for a post-party with cake, snacks and fruity drinks. Join us next year!
If you couldn't walk with us or donate, remember that bartender Danny also raises money for the National MS Society. Every year he rides in the MS 150, and Danny and his team do some serious fundraising. You can check out his fundraising page here.
by Debbi | Apr 29, 2011 | Events, Good Things, Jukebox, Social Media
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!
by Debbi | Apr 28, 2011 | Downtown, Newsworthy, Social Media
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.
