My New Year’s Eve

I know on Wednesday I said I’d most likely stay home and fall asleep well before Dick Clark Ryan Seacrest dropped the ball.

Well something inside me (Sparks) made me venture out. Actually, I was already out and about in Lawrence watching the KU Bowl Game. Feeling in a festive-yet-cheap mode and away from the three free places I recommended, I decided to crash a party.

But this is not just any party, I decided to crash the big one in Lawrence.

A well-known Lawrence secret to townies, grad students and sixth-year-seniors is that a certain bar right off Massachusetts Street holds a private — anything you can drink from the top-shelf down — party for its loyal customers on New Year’s Eve. The party is 100 percent free but there’s a very limited amount of invites. 

As the guest of one the attendees last year, I got to see how much fun this party is for people who are essentially drinking together most other days of the year. I also noticed last year that the bouncer would leave his post frequently to get drinks and left it permanently after 10:30 p.m.

This year,  I wait until a little after 10:30 p.m. when I strolled to the door. Uh-oh, it wasn’t quite the same. This was a different bouncer and he looked serious, asking for identification to make sure the name matched the name on the list of a man I saw go in.

I had to think of a plan to get in that bar by New Year’s.