by Debbi | Sep 1, 2010 | Hurricane
Last week, Dave got a phone call.
"Where are the mermaid costumes?" asked the bartender on duty. There weren't any hanging up.
"Didn't they run one last night (Sunday)?" Dave asked. "I'll find out, they must have disappeared on Saturday night."
After calling the Saturday night staff, Dave determined that for the first time ever, we were completely without a mermaid costume. Through the past eight years, we've been through quite a few costumes, as they fall apart or disappear every so often. But never have we been without at least one.
Later that week, Andrew ran into a girl on campus who had been the Saturday night mermaid. He confronted her.
"Did you steal the mermaid costume?!" he demanded.
"No! We wore them around all night but we left them on the popcorn machine before we left." she said.
Of course. An easy spot for someone else to grab the apparently-coveted item on their way out the door.
Fortunately, our mermaid-costume maker, Coleen's mom Sylvia, was able to whip one up rather quickly as a replacement. It's a little bit shorter than normal- on tall girls it's more like a mermaid mini- but that's a good thing. Part of the reason the costumes get so worn out is because they're long and get stepped on all the time.
Coming soon: a funny story about the lengths some of us will go to in order to find stolen mermaid costumes.
by Debbi | Aug 29, 2010 | Bachelorette Parties, People, Stories
Yesterday, former Sandbartender John married the love of his life Natalie. After a beautiful wedding and fun reception at the Oread, the mostly younger half of the wedding guests moved on to the Sandbar.
Some of the group gathered upstairs on the beach for a few pictures:
And then the party moved back downstairs. John and Natalie danced in the window to the back room while everyone cheered. Their friend Pump convinced the bartenders to pause the music for a few minutes so he could say a few profound words about the newlyweds. Jake, groomsman and another former bartender, was up on the bench in front of them, and Dave quickly joined.
(For those of you who might be familiar with Jake & John, or with the items that deck our walls, you might notice that in the photo above, above the girl in the purple dress' head, there's part of a framed picture. The guy in the middle in the blue shirt is Dave, and Jake and John were on either side of him. Very fitting that they chose this spot to dance last night, huh?)
And then, it was time for Natalie's first ever hurricane.
Yes, she and John dated through most of college, and he tended bar here for at least a year, yet somehow Natalie always dodged the mermaid costume and never actually experienced the indoor attraction. For her hurricane initiation, John donned the mer-man costume and read the poem with her.
You might be surprised that a bride would come to the Sandbar on her wedding night; but you might be more surprised to learn that there were TWO brides in the bar last night. Another bride- who was still dressed in her full length gown- showed up with a small entourage. Congratulations to that couple as well!
We also got to see another former Sandbartender, Drew. He was out on the town with friends celebrating his bachelor party and they stopped by the bar.
'Tis the wedding season, it seems!
by Debbi | Aug 28, 2010 | Off the Wall
By now everyone's seen the silly handcrafted wooden signs that a talented woodworker leaves at businesses around town. We've probably received close to a hundred of these just at the Sandbar. Recently, a few more appeared.
The one just above might be my favorite so far. The right side is an actual photo of the building, and Dave thinks he remembers seeing the guy out taking pictures of the building one day.
Any creative suggestions for what we should do with these? Obviously, we don't have much wall space. We can squeeze a few more of them on the wall somewhere, but we'd like to share these with people who would appreciate them. The Lawrence Humane Society turned their plaques into a fundraiser. We're not a charity and we're not looking to make money off them, but if anyone has a great idea for a fun way to share these, let us know. Maybe we'll start covering our upstairs walls…
by Debbi | Aug 27, 2010 | Around the World
Our friend and long-time regular Sondra recently visited Chicago with her family. Her bright red Sandbar shirt was lucky enough to make the wardrobe cut!
Here's a picture Sondra uploaded to our Facebook page:
Thanks for the great picture, Sondra! See you soon.
Have YOU been somewhere fun with your Sandbar shirt? Snap a picture and send it to us!
by Debbi | Aug 25, 2010 | People
Lots of bartenders and doorpeople have made their way through the Sandbar in our storied 21-year history. Some have stayed in touch and others have dropped out of sight. Still others are still working here and will probably never leave.
We've been graced by the presence of several far-flung folks this past week, and we were thrilled to welcome them back, if only for a short time.
Drew, AKA "Steel Wolf," showed up recently. His friend Brian tipped us off to his appearance first on Twitter, and fortunately Dave was working when they showed up at the bar. We haven't seen Drew for a long time- he's been in Asia for several years now teaching English and traveling. He's back in the States now for grad school and engaged to be married.
Rumor has it that Jake was in the other night. Dave missed him, but he'll be back later this week for his buddy John's wedding. Back when Jake and John worked here, we rarely saw one without the other. Jake and John took off for Australia shortly after they graduated, and at the end of their tour John came home while Jake continued his travels. He's been in China the past few years teaching English.
(What is it with the Sandbar that leads people to teach English in Asian countries?!?)
And John. We haven't spotted him yet, but it's only a matter of time. John lives in Houston now, and he's getting married this weekend in Lawrence to the lovely Natalie, who he dated through most of college. Natalie somehow got through college without ever experiencing the wonders of the indoor hurricane- and you know what that means. Special wedding hurricane, just for her.
