RIP, Homer the Puffer Fish

Sad news for Sandbar fish fans.

Homer, our large puffer fish, died yesterday. Homer was a resident of our fish tank for eight years, and he lived in a tank at Jayhawk Tropical Fish for eight years before that.

HomerNo Homer! Leave my drink alone!

Here's a couple pictures of Homer, courtesy of mayor of the Sandbar Jeff.

You may or may not know that Homer was our second puffer fish. Our original puffer fish was Frank, who oddly enough also lived eight years in our tank, and may or may not still be in Coleen's freezer. He was so popular that when he died in 2003, we knew we had to get another puffer fish.

Go here to read an ode to Frank in the Tank. If you'd like to write a similar poem about Homer, go for it. Send it to us and we'll publish it, or leave it in the comments.

Also, if you have your own photos of Homer, we'd love to see them. You can upload them to our Facebook page, our Flickr group, tweet them to us @thesandbar or email them to us at sandbar@thesandbar.com. Homer can live on in an online memorial. He'll be buried at Peach and Ted's farm.

Shark Fest 2011 T-shirts and pint glasses

We've got another new T-shirt!

If you didn't know already, we print a lot of our own T-shirts. Several years ago, Dave converted a tiny room in the office from an overstuffed costume closet that no one could even get in to a screenprinting room complete with a toilet. For those times when the female staff needs to use the facilities and there's a group of women camped out in the downstairs bathroom.

Since our colored logo T-shirts sell better than any other shirt we stock, we just print them ourselves.

Dave created a Shark Fest 2011 design for our block party next week and art director Justin printed it on the back of our blue logo T's:

20110801.sharkfestshirt

The shirts are in-stock behind the bar, and they're $12 each. We've got sizes from small to double extra large.

This same Shark Fest design will be available on new pint glasses sometime next week, so you can add to your pint collection too.

Get details about next week's Shark Fest here.

Shark Fest 2011 is coming!

One week dedicated to sharks isn't enough for us. Shark Fest 2011- our third annual birthday block party that takes place Aug. 13- will feature all kinds of shark-themed fun.

Here's the schedule:

  • 8th St. between Mass St. and New Hampshire St. will close at 1 p.m. 
  • Blue Orleans, the band that opened at last month's Tour of Lawrence block party, will play at 5 p.m.
  • Magentlemen, a band that includes our next door neighbors at Richard's Music Store, takes the stage at 8 p.m.
  • Valentine and the Hammerheads, our headlining band the past two years, closes the show starting at 9 p.m.

The lovely and talented Sandbar float dancers will make an appearance between bands and dance to your favorite Sandbar tunes.

Alcohol will be available inside the bar and in the beer garden. There's a $5 cover to enter and you must be 21 or over. The beer garden will feature Land Shark beer and tropical drinks.

This is a family-friendly event. The kids (and adults!) will have fun on the 40-foot-long inflatable shark slide, available from 5-10 p.m.

What else?

You can RSVP to the party on Facebook, and share it on your wall or invite your friends.

If you're on Twitter, use the hashtag #sandbar22.

Check in at the Sandbar Birthday Party on foursquare.

Be sure to share your party pics with us! You can tweet them to us, email them to sandbar@thesandbar.com or upload them to our Facebook page.

We can't wait to see you on Aug. 13!

Fun with the Sandbar Shark Cutout

Our new shark photo opportunity has been a big hit! We've received several pictures of customers posing in the cutout. Here's a few for your viewing pleasure:

20110730_annreaney1 20110730_emmareaney1

20110730_andytade1

So much fun! Don't forget, we're having a contest with these pictures: submit a picture with the shark cutout to us, and you could win a Sandbar T-shirt! You can email them (sandbar@thesandbar.com) or tweet them to us (@thesandbar). We also love to see them on our Facebook page, but because of Facebook's contest rules, you'll also need to submit it by email or tweet in order to enter. 

On Sunday, we'll pick a random winner.

Where does your Sandbar shark live?

More Shark Week fun!

We asked our most dedicated fans (that means those of you who signed up for our email list) to send us pictures of their Sandbar sharks. We love seeing all the creative places our friends keep their toys!

Here's a couple of the pictures we've received:

Sharktoilet Sharkclips

Former bartender John is now married and living in Houston, and he also happens to still have a Sandbar shark in his possession. He snapped a picture of his shark perched on the edge of their guest bathroom toilet. What a surprise for their overnight guests!

Sandbar fan and 2011 KU graduate Kristina found a unique and practical use for her Sandbar shark: keeper of the paper clips on the desk at her office.

You can send us your pictures- email them to us (sandbar@thesandbar.com), tweet them to us (@thesandbar) or upload them to our Facebook page.