by Debbi | Sep 20, 2009 | Door Diaries
A few Thursdays ago, I was hanging out on the patio with Dave, talking to some friends. We watched a group of young-ish looking people walk into the bar, and I remember thinking "I really hope the bartender cards all of them." Some of them were raving to the others about how great the Sandbar is, which made us smile.
(Of course, the older I get, the younger everyone else looks- in my head I like to think I'm still 21, so anyone who looks younger than me certainly can't be old enough to come in.)
About five minutes later, the same group walks back out. This time they were raving about something else.
Apparently, the bartender followed all rules (yay!) and carded the entire group. One of the guys threw a fit and couldn't believe they were being carded- and even worse, the bartender wanted to scan his ID! Oh, the humanity!
The bartender explained that everyone gets carded, and since school had just started it was even more important to card everyone, and that every bar in town would be paying closer attention to ID's right now.
This group didn't want to hear it, and they chose to leave instead of hand over their ID's for a 30 second inspection. On their way out, several of them were loudly complaining about the "rude" bartender and how "they come here all the time."
I suspect that at least one of the group wasn't quite of age.
by Debbi | Sep 18, 2009 | Random Holidays
Ahoy! Tomorrow is perhaps one of the most unique holidays of the year: International Talk Like a Pirate Day!
This celebration began sometime in the last decade. Visit the official Talk Like a Pirate Day website for more details about how it started (and why) and what you can do to partake.
(Another fun thing on the official website are the pirate pickup lines.)
Once again, this day snuck up on us and we aren't prepared with cute little pirate bendy toys.
But, we encourage all of you to dress up like pirates when you go out drinking your grog on Saturday night! The doorguy could possibly be persuaded to waive your cover charge with a good pirate costume. If that's too much for you, at least let out a good "Arrrr!" or "Avast!"
Another fun thing to do tomorrow, at least for those of you on Facebook, is to change your language settings. Did you know that Facebook has a setting for Pirate English? Yes, it's true. Read all about how to set your language to Pirate English here.
Give us your best pirate lines in the comments.
by Debbi | Sep 17, 2009 | Events, Guest Blogs, St. Patrick's Day
In case you didn't notice, today is September 17. In Sandbar-land, that also means it's halfway to our favorite holiday: St. Patrick's Day!
In honor of the blessed event, our Friday bartender Phil composed this invitation to all our friends.
Top O'the Mornin', Noon 'n Night to ya's ….
'Tis the season for 'The Wearin' O' the Green' once again !!!
This beloved Thursday, today, is the very quintessential September 17th …. which so happens to be 'The Half Way' point, to the very auspicious day of Glorified Celebration indeed …. Saint Paddy's Day!!! I will be urging ye to celebrate this momentous day at your local pub! And if you find yourself in our quaint village then I'll be asking ye to pay heed to this announcement……
So on the morrow, Friday that be, in honor of surviving till halftime, the lovely Miss Heather O'Bunker and The Phil of Clan McBradley will be throwin' down a ShamRockin' Party and a Celebration at Ye Olde Sandbar, that ye's won't wanna be missin' now. Sure, The Lads and Lasses will be enjoying the specials and the very Irish Dirty Banana Shots are a mere $2.00 a trifle don’t ye know…. and The Blarney is FREE all day long.
Toppin' the evening all off, with grand cuisine from the emerald isle, complementary o' Hot Wings (while they last) …. and then Kickin' it up a notch more, with the most honorable Dave and the evening lads and lasses. This will surely be an Arse Kickin' good time for Families, Friends and All to enjoy the night away.
In other words: stop by on Friday to celebrate the halfway point, enjoy some wings and Dirty Banana shots, and see what antics Heather and Phil and the late night crew have planned.
by Debbi | Sep 16, 2009 | Events
Have you participated in our Tropical Thursday Buzztime trivia contest?
We've been holding this competition on Thursdays from 6-8 pm for several months now, and it's been pretty popular with our customers. We only have 10 Playmakers for people to use, and most Thursdays they are all in play- either by single players or groups.
It took us awhile to figure out how to score this competition. There are six trivia games during our contest, and Buzztime shows everybody's score after each game. But, they don't total scores over those two hours, and if there are ten people playing it's impossible for someone to write down everybody's score each time. We struggled for several weeks and we're grateful to the players who were patient with us while we tried out different scoring methods.
Peach finally came up with a great way for us to pick a winner based on her experience with horse shows of all things. We have a whiteboard at the bar with a chart on it, and after each game the top three players are written on the board.
For each first place finish, the player gets 5 points; 3 points for each second place finish, and 1 point for each third place finish. No points are given for any other place. At 8 pm, when all six games are over, the points are tallied. Whoever has the highest number of points wins the prize for the evening. Currently the prize is a Sandbar t-shirt.
There's another element of competition here, too. Not only are the players competing against each other (and all the people playing Buzztime around the nation), but we have a weekly challenge with the folks at Sandbar Ottawa. Whichever location gets a higher ranking in the network top 20 at any point during the night wins, and the bartender buys all the players a round of Dirty Bananas.
We tried to challenge Heroes Sports Bar in Wichita one week. They showed up regularly in the network top 20, and we connected with them on Twitter to issue a challenge. Apparently we scared their players with our smarts, though, because they left halfway through the game.
If you haven't been by to check out our Buzztime trivia game, come by! It's available to play anytime, or come in on Thursdays at 6 for our (sort of) organized contest! Get there early to get a Playmaker, and you might have to double up on teams so everyone can play.
by Debbi | Sep 15, 2009 | Newsworthy, People
In case you missed it, and I don't know how you could have, Dave made the paper again. Last Friday, the University Daily Kansan featured a story about him in their new "Wave" game-day section.
Big thanks to the writer Brenna, who is also in her second term as editor of the Kansan. She's a Sandbar fan, but up until this summer, she only knew Dave in his Sandbar persona- and didn't realize he had a previous life as a KU basketball player.
After the blog post this summer about a request for Dave's autograph, she contacted us and asked if she could do a story about Dave for the Kansan. "Of course!" I said. (Dave groaned.)
She interviewed Dave a few weeks ago and asked all kinds of questions about basketball and the bar. Apparently he mentioned that we met at The Sandbar, and upon hearing that, she wanted to interview me too!
I had a great time meeting Brenna over lunch and answering all kinds of questions about the bar and Dave. I even provided a few "vintage" pictures I dug up of Dave from his playing days. Secretly, I think he was thrilled that everyone could see him wearing tight-rolled jeans, showing off his dance moves at Late Night nearly twenty years ago.
We've heard so many compliments about this article. One of my favorites was "if I didn't already know you two, I would after reading this article."
Thanks, Brenna and the Kansan!
