12 Cheers for 20 Years: January

12 CHEERS FOR 20 YEARS: JANUARY

Someone once said, “time flies when you are having fun” and that is just what we have been doing at the O-Bars for the past 20 years. Just thinking about that is mind blowing because it still feels like only yesterday when we opened the doors at Landside… I remember I’m the one that didn’t lock the door one night before we opened to the public when leaving… I set the alarm and left the place unlocked… Jerry Yettaw arrived at 6am, saw my car in the parking lot (I won’t go into that here) and “assumed” I was laready there when he pulled on the front door and it opened… he got halfway across the dining room before the alarm started blaring… sure woke him up that morning before we opened in 1997. I look in the mirror and realize that it wasn’t yesterday, or last week, or even last month but 20 years ago… or 7,067 days..

So much has happened and so many stories are there too… I got my cat Bailey just a few months after we opened in 1997 and she was with us until this past November… thank God she couldn’t talk.. that’s for sure… she had plenty of stories in her memory… whew!

We have loved every second of being a part of our wonderful community, 610,588,800 seconds to be exact, and feel blessed to have been part of so many special celebrations – birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, and many other life milestones. Who doesn’t love a party? Well, of course we do! And so we wanted to celebrate with as many of you, our awesome friends, as possible so we hope that you will come and help us celebrate on the 20th day of each month in 2017. One party just isn’t enough for a 20th birthday!

Our community has given us such great support and friendships over the past 20 years that we decided  that we would like to turn our monthly celebration into something more than being just about us. Each month we have chosen a local Non-Profit to benefit from the sales of our Specialty “Birthday Cake” Cocktail…
So here’s what we’re doing… all year we’re selling this delish cocktail.. I think I tried 8 or 9 yesterday making sure it tasted perfect… THNX Juliette at AMOB on the Pier… We’re going to donate $2 of each Birthday Cake Cocktail all month to a different charity… on the 20th of each month… today is the 1st one, we’re going to donate 100% of the proceeds of the drink to the charity… we’ve chosen to start our celebration with The Center of Anna Maria Island.

It’s kinda where we started our community service… I was an umpire for Little League at the Community Center for many years and on their Board of Directors for 15 years… it was a natural choice to start our years of celebrations with The Center… they do a tremendous job on the island.

Other groups we’re trying to solidify for our yearlong campaign/celebration are PACE, Manatee Education Foundation, Women’s Resource Center, Making Strides Against Breast Cancer, Tidewell Hospice, Food Bank of Manatee, and MOTS just to name a few. THNX for helping us celebrate and help.

So Happy Birthday, Take 1!

And THNX for supporting US for 20 years.

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