In case you haven’t figured it out yet, summers in Statesboro can be a little boring. Fewer than half of the students are in town, and weekends just don’t seem as exciting with 10,000 absent Eagles. The good thing about Statesboro in the summer, though, is the shorter lines and less-crowded bars. Places all over town offer deals throughout the week that students can better take advantage of without having to elbow their way to the bar. Summer is the perfect time to try as many places as possible to find your favorites.

Best margarita – El Sombrero

El Som easily has the best selection of margaritas with several flavors and various sizes ranging from the petite 12 ounce to the professionals only 46 ounce. The standard lime flavor (on the rocks, not frozen) is stronger and more potent than other margs found around town. The prices are fair and the chips are free.

Locations: the “Old One” downtown off Fair Road (you have to venture all the way past CVS, and you’ll find it on the right)

The “Taj Mahal” near Walmart on Buckhead Drive (locate Sonic, cross the street)

Best beer selection – Mellow Mushroom

Yes. Mellow Mushroom. Not one of the wings places. Not one of the local places that have been around for 30 years. Mellow Mushroom. The pizzeria offers craft, local, regional and international beers. Whether you like your beer dark as night or light as a feather, you can likely find something delicious. MM even has a beer club (BEER. CLUB.) so you can earn rewards for drinking beer.

Location: behind the hospital (hopefully you know where that is)

Best regular event – Trivia

Trivia is different from the other bar events and competitions because you can’t do it somewhere else. You can play bingo or corn hole or beer pong pretty much anywhere, but not trivia. Grab your friends who know random tidbits, come up with a punny name and try to win whatever prizes are being offered. You can see what you know at Millhouse Steakhouse on Monday nights, Gnat’s Landing or Retrievers on Tuesday or Wild Wing Cafe and Loco’s Grill and Pub on Wednesday (we didn’t name them all, but lots of other places also have regular trivia nights)

Best bang for your Thursday buck:

Thursday evening begins the collegiate weekend (just ask Erk Russell) and also happens to be the day for some of the best boozey deals.

For margs – Fuzzy’s Taco Shop on Thursdays 4 — 7 p.m.

Every Thursday Fuzzy’s has the most amazing, beautiful special: half-off margaritas. For about $5 you can get a pitcher of flavored margarita to share (or not). It gets crowded during the regular semesters but is much more manageable in the summer.

Location: off Veteran’s Memorial Parkway next to Copper Beech (it has a big, bright yellow sign; you seriously can’t miss it)

For mixed drinks – Gnat’s reverse happy hour 9 — 11 p.m.

Happy hour is great, but it always seems to end too early. Luckily Gnat’s offers a round two on Thursdays with all of the regular happy hour deals, which includes $8 well liquor pitchers.

For beer – El Som all day

Domestic draft “Big Beers” are $2.75. A Big Beer is 34 ounces. A serving of beer is 12 ounces (by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism’s standards, not Statesboro’s), so that’s less than $1 per serving. You also look really cool with that giant mug.