by Debbi | May 9, 2010 | Sandbar Love Stories
Well, the one week anniversary was actually yesterday, but whatever. Bartender Heather and her new hubby Ken have been married for a week! And they've been off soaking up the sun in Hawaii while the rest of deal with this unpredictable Kansas weather.
The wedding last Saturday was held at the Adams Alumni Center on the KU campus. Heather is a KU alum, and the groom- well, let's just say he's not. He's a Nebraska fan, and arrived at the wedding with a giant blow up Cornhusker in tow. It was tied around the Jayhawk statue in front of the building for a brief time, until the helpful staff at the Alumni Center assisted with removal.
After the wedding, the bride and groom made a brief stop at The Sandbar for pictures. Fitting, since they became engaged on the bar last year. They didn't get on the bar this time- large wedding dresses tend to make that difficult- but we took some pictures downstairs and also upstairs on the fake beach.
Next stop, the fabulous wedding reception at the Lawrence Country Club. Rumor around the club was that this was the biggest event they've seen in ten years- and I believe it. Lots of people, loads of great food, and the drinks were flowing.
The dance floor stayed packed, too. You probably notice that at most weddings, people have to be dragged on to the dance floor with a silly snowball dance, and the only people who actually stay on the dance floor are the little kids. Not this wedding. Young and old alike were dancing up a storm all night. Sandbar staff Dave, Tyler, and Andrew (Fyler not Madl) entertained the masses with their stellar moves.
When the reception finally wrapped up late that night, lots of us traveled to The Sandbar to cap off the evening. It was busy there, too.
Overall, it was a beautiful and fun day. Congratulations to Heather and Ken, we are all so happy for you!
by Debbi | May 6, 2010 | Graduation, Sandbar Stuff
We have some great gifts for the 2010 graduate!
Our popular pint glasses have a brand new design- a mermaid with "Congratulations 2010 Graduates" wrapped around her. The front of the glass has the Sandbar logo. Choose from red or blue designs, and they're just $3 each.
We also just printed a new batch of Sandbar logo t-shirts in both blue and red, with white logos. Available in S-2XL for $12 each.
by Debbi | May 5, 2010 | Graduation
Are you graduating in 2010? Are you a Sandbar regular? We want to hear from you!
Every year we try to highlight a few customers and/or employees who are graduating and share some stories about them. If you'd like to be featured on our blog, keep reading. Send us an email with answers to the following questions- you don't have to answer all of them, and you can make up your own questions to answer, we're not picky- and include a picture or two if you want.
- What's your favorite Sandbar jukebox song? Bonus points if you tell us why.
- Tell us the funniest moment you remember at The Sandbar- whether it involves you or not.
- Remember the first time you came here? Tell us your first impression.
- What's your drink of choice? The one you'll miss the most?
- Tell us what you're doing after you graduate- sticking around town? Moving on to greener pastures?
- How many hours have you waited in line?
Feel free to embellish your stories or tell us something else. And we love pictures!
Email us at sandbar@thesandbar.com and we'll feature you on our blog sometime in the next week.
by Debbi | May 5, 2010 | Door Diaries
We keep a notebook by the door. The doorguy/bartender are supposed to use it to write down any important thing that happens on their shift- fake ID's that got turned away, someone they had to cut off, a crazy dance party that took place on the bar- but occasionally, nothing happens that's worth writing down.
On those long, slow nights the staff has to find something to entertain themselves with, and sometimes this is the result:
I don't even know what the comments on this one mean, so don't ask.
I believe Joe is the one who produced this pretty decent drawing of the Shark Attack.
Didn't know we had artists on staff, did you?
by Debbi | May 3, 2010 | Cool Stuff, Jukebox, Social Media
We have something fun to announce: you can earn free jukebox credits at The Sandbar (in Lawrence only, for now).
If you use Twitter, you're probably familiar with location-based social networking tools like Foursquare, Gowalla, and Whrrl. The big buzz about these types of networks is the growing ability for merchants to offer freebies and rewards to customers who "check in" with one of these services. Kansas liquor laws don't allow us to give away or discount alcohol, but we can offer merchandise.
You don't have to be a Twitter user to use these apps. Check out their websites for more information about how to use them.
So what are we offering?
The first service we're offering rewards on is Whrrl (because right now it's my favorite). Check in to the Sandbar between 5-9 p.m., any day of the week, and you can earn 5 free jukebox credits. You have to show the offer to the bartender, and he/she will load your credits on to the jukebox.
Here are some screenshots of what you'll see in the Whrrl iPhone app and what you need to do:
1. First, check in on your app. You can see below that I'm "checked in" at The Sandbar. Click on the section circled below in the first picture.
2. A page comes up that shows details about the Sandbar- who else has checked in, and tabs for more information. Click on the Recs/Offers tab (circled in picture 2).
3. Once you've navigated to the Recs/Offers tab, you'll see our Special Offers! You can also see what users have marked the offer as "to do" or "did it." Click on the offer- if we had multiple offers available they would all show up here, but right now we only have one to choose.
4. A new page opens with the offer and a "Redeem Now" button.
Click on the Redeem Offer Now button, and the next page that comes up is what you need to show the bartender.
This page tells you how many times you've checked in to the location, and what your status is in the "society." It also instructs you to show this page to redeem your offer.
I've requested to set up a reward on Foursquare, too, but I haven't heard back from the company about it. However, at least one customer has seen it, so it's out there. Every third check-in on Foursquare earns you five free jukebox credits. I don't have a screenshot from Foursquare yet because I haven't seen the offer.
Please be patient with our staff, and please only redeem one offer per day, per check-in service! These promotions are very new and different for us, and it may take some time for all of our staff to really understand how this works. It's a learning process for all of us!
