Bar Wars Returns to The Beach Bar!!!

One of my ABSOLUTE favorite things about this little rock is the way that the community comes together for a charity event. From Chaotic Kayak to Light Up the Night to 8 Tuff Miles…Volunteers, participants and supporters all show up in full festiveness and a healthy spirit of competition and support. My first season on St. John, I reveled at these make shift community gatherings for a good cause and a good time. A party with a purpose if you will 🙂 Well, the storms of 2017 slowed some of these incredible events and then the pandemic pretty much stopped them in their tracks. But, this month, the Beach Bar will host Bar Wars once again!!! And, if you are on island, or not, I highly urge you to set your sights on this little slice of ridiculous amazingness on the beach in Cruz Bay.

Ok, so, what IS Bar Wars? Awesome is what it is in a word. But, seriously(?), it is a relay obstacle course geared towards the speed pourers of St. John. A fierce and fiery competition between teams of four staff members from all of our favorite establishments.

A day of speedy margarita making, swimming in Cruz Bay, diving through hula hoops and falling down in the sand wearing snorkel fins that are two sizes too big. And ALL of the participants take this race incredibly seriously. Why? Because the cause they are raising money for is incredibly important to ALL of the residents of St. John. And, let’s face it, have you EVER met a bartender without a bit of a lust for healthy competition? 🙂

This year’s event will be the 17th Bar Wars Competition but the last time this event was held was in August of 2017. Right before our everything got turned upside down, literally. The come back of this previously annual event will hopefully set the course (pun intended) for other events that raised so much money for good causes on St. John to make a similar debut in the coming months or years. Oh, speaking of that, Chaotic Kayak WILL be making a comeback! Mark your calendars and save the date for October 30, 2022. But, that is another story for another time. Back to BAR WARS>>>

The proceeds for this year’s event will be, once again, going to an incredible organization on St. John. The Island Health and Wellness Center is a non-profit clinic that offers “compassionate and affordable healthcare to adults, children and families of all ages and genders in need of primary, preventive and educational medical services.” On an island without access to great healthcare options in a territory where purchasing individual health insurance is NOT an option; this clinic is imperative to the health and wellness of St. John residents. And, it is entirely funded by grants and donations.

Here, in a comfortable space with friendly faces, residents can receive professional primary healthcare and mental health services at a fraction of the normal cost. No one will be turned away…If one cannot afford the small nominal donation requested, it is waved. This place is healthcare for everyone. And, when it opened in 2017, all of Love City breathed a sigh of relief. Over the past few years, they have also taken on the role of administering COVID-19 vaccinations and booster shots. For a large portion of time, they were the ONLY place on St. John to get a COVID vaccination. All the while, they continued to see patients by appointment, ensuring that folks here on St. John could continue to receive primary care. Founder, Clinical Executive Director and Family Nurse Practitioner Sandy Atwood and her incredible staff are angels and this year, at Bar Wars, the proceeds will go to support them and their mission of providing health care to ALL on St. John.

The event will be held on Sunday, August 21 starting at high noon on the beach in front of Beach Bar. There are still a few spots available for teams of four and anyone interested in signing up can contact Casey at Beach Bar about paying the $200 entry fee and reserving their spot.

On the day of the event, those of you who are lucky enough to be on St. John can expect music from DJ Top Notch, stiff competition between your favorite St. John establishments on the beach, drink specials and a whole lot of FUN! Proceeds from the event will go to Island Health and Wellness with additional assistance from the sponsors at St. John Brewers/The Tap Room, Beach Bum, Smirnoff and Don Julio.

Get ready to race!!!! Teams of 4 people each will be racing against each other to the finish. Once your drinks are poured, delivered and consumed, the fastest times will move on to the next round. The teams that don’t make it into the next heat can “bribe” the judges. Each heat the bribe will increase, but it keeps the chances open to anyone to bring home Bar Wars Bragging Rights. It’s guaranteed to be a day of “Pour Decisions”, so come out & cheer for your favorite team!- Beach Bar

If you are not on St. John, there are a few ways you can join in the fun AND the giving on this much anticipated day:

• Tune into the Beach Bar webcam to watch the races and cheer on your favorite teams. The webcam is without sound, so you’ll have too also tune into your favorite island playlist or Beach Bar Radio to get in the mood 🙂
• The Beach Bar will be posting live streams throughout the day from their Facebook page.
• The Bar Wars t-shirts will be available on the Beach Bar website in the “Fundraisers” collection the weekend of the event (beginning on August 19). One hundred percent of the proceeds from these specific t-shirt sales will go to Island Health and Wellness.
• Beach Bar currently has a few PayPal links in their online store under the fundraiser collection where you can donate to the total amount raised for the day.
• OR, you can donate directly to Island Health and Wellness via their website.

I, for one, AM SO EXCITED about this upcoming event. It truly is a spectacle of the best possible kind. And a beautiful showing of St. John Community efforts, team work and enthusiasm for a great cause. I hope that those of you who are here on St. John will attend and that those of you who are not will find a way to join in the fun on this Sunday, August 21!