by Debbi | Jun 23, 2010 | Cool Stuff, Off the Wall
If you love Jimmy Buffett or the Sandbar, you'll love this.
We celebrated former staff member Erick's birthday last weekend at a party at his parent's house. (His parents are very cool Sandbar friends, too.) The family members are huge Buffett fans and have traveled to many concerts over the years and collected lots of memorabilia.
Where do they display it? Why, the bathroom of course.

A friend of theirs who owned a display company (I think) gave them a lighted palm tree. There's grass skirts and coconut bras on the walls. Flamingos and margarita and parrot images are everywhere. A huge frame above the counter has pictures from every Buffett concert they've been to (with Erick in the same Hawaiian shirt every time!) and sharks on top of it. We even gave them a Sandbar tabletop frame advertising Landshark.
And there's a fish tank. With real fish.
Who can top this?
by Debbi | Jun 22, 2010 | Birthday Party
Another end of an era: doorboy Andrew finally turned 21 yesterday.
He's worked the door at the Sandbar since he turned 18 and moved to Lawrence for college. Now that he's finally of legal drinking age, he can also tend bar.
Andrew, son of Sandbar founder/owner Peach, was born the same year as the bar. They've both grown and changed and matured through the years, while our customers have come and gone. If you've been around the Sandbar at all in the last 20 years, you've probably met Andrew at some point; he basically grew up here.
His first official bartending shift is tonight from 5-9 p.m. He's working with Tegan and she'll show him the ropes. But Andrew's a smart kid, so no doubt he'll be slinging drinks like a pro in no time.
Stop by tonight and say hi. On special: $1.50 almost anything. There's no cover until 8 p.m. After 8, it's $3 to get in.
Oh, and the picture? That's from St. Patrick's Day, 1997. Wasn't he cute?
by Debbi | Jun 21, 2010 | Ottawa, Sandbar Subs
Last week the Sandbar Sub Shop in downtown Ottawa got a facelift! Or, should we say, a floorlift…
You might recall that several years ago we replaced the floor in the women's bathroom at the Sandbar in Lawrence. Brand new wood-like vinyl flooring took the place of the worn-out laminate that had been there forever. The "wood" floor held up so well that Peach decided to put it in the Sub Shop.
Dave, Ted and our friend/contractor Jeff worked for several hours in the Sub Shop, with some help from Peach and her brother Patrick. They replaced the floor throughout the entire Sub Shop with vinyl wood plank flooring, and it looks fantastic. Dave said it didn't take nearly as long to install as they thought it would, either.
Check it out:

They also built a bench along the south wall of the shop (where Dave's sitting in the picture!). It's similar to the benches along the walls of the Sandbar. It allow for a little more seating in the shop.
If you haven't been to the Sandbar Sub Shop, it's worth the drive to Ottawa. And next month, we're opening one in Lawrence! Peach has partnered with Scott from Zarco66, and he's opening Sandbar Sub Shops in his gas station. He's got one up and running in Ottawa already, and the 23rd Street station is next on the list.
If you aren't already on our email list, join it here to get updates on the new Sub Shop and other fun stuff.
by Debbi | Jun 17, 2010 | Jukebox
Friday nights can be long and hard at The Sandbar. It's the end of the work week and everyone just wants to unwind, including our staff. Fridays are almost always busy, from five o'clock until the last person is shown the door at two a.m. By the time all the customers are gone, the employees are ready to relax. Cryin' Fridays was born out of this need, and it was a tradition for a long time.
I've tried for years to get the "official" story on Cryin' Fridays, and I've tried to get the staff members involved to write a guest post. I haven't been very successful on either front. Apparently the first rule of Cryin' Fridays is that you don't talk about Cryin' Fridays. So, here's what I know and remember about it.
It all started many years ago. The jukebox had virtually no country music, and certain members of the staff were longing for some Willie, Waylon or Hank. Some of the guys started bringing in their own CD's to listen to while they cleaned the bar (this was, of course, before the iPod craze started). They started putting together their own mixes. They started asking if new music could be added to the jukebox- which doesn't really happen much.
Dave K, Scottie Mack and Ken were three of the core members of the Cryin' Fridays crew. Once the bar closed down on Friday nights, they were cleaning to the sounds of a fiddle and lost loves. Sound a bit depressing? Perhaps, but of course the Sandbar crew made it fun.
Have you ever seen Ken dance around the bar, acting out imagined scenes from "Pancho and Lefty" I mean "Old El Paso?" (Thanks, astute employee Danny, for the correction.) Or Scottie Mack, two-stepping all over the place while restocking the cooler and taking out the trash? It's entertainment, that's for sure.
We still have CD's with the Cryin' Fridays mixes somewhere- last I knew, we were up to four or five editions. Some of the songs have made their way to Dave's iPod, so if you ask him nicely, he might just play a cryin' tune for you on a Friday night.
by Debbi | Jun 15, 2010 | Guest Blogs, Our Ghost
Here's a little story from our friend and customer Bailey.
My coworker and I had gotten food and brought it in- we were starving and didn't think we should start in on the Pink Flamingos on an empty stomach. We were sitting in the little corner table by the fish tank. Trivia was happening, it was more crowded than I thought it would be but I guess I'd never been there on a Thursday during trivia before.
Anyway, I could tell there was definitely a group of trivia "regulars," and there seemed to be another guy who was playing but was maybe a newbie – he wasn't really talking to anyone. I wasn't paying attention to the trivia because my friend and I were gossiping and complaining about our jobs (sometimes, you have dark days).
At one point there was some rumbling that sounded like thunder but then we realized it was coming from upstairs. The place got mostly quiet, and then it sounded like someone was running down the stairs. Someone shouted "it's the ghost" and we all chuckled.
A moment later we knew it wasn't as the ghost, as quiet trivia guy came barreling out from the stairwell running straight at the aquarium.
And then we all ended up soaked and the place was flooded because some crazy trivia guy flipped out and crashed the aquarium.
If it had happened. Which it did not.
*Recently I put a desperate call out for stories for this blog, and I thought I was going to have to start making up stories. Fortunately, I don't have to, since we have friends who will make things up for us. Rest assured, the aquarium is intact and the fish are safe. The ghost, however, is laughing at us all.