Milton officials ponder licensing to serve alcohol at special events

Milton officials are considering a possible change to the town’s policy for allowing alcohol at special events.

The economic development committee discussed broad strokes of the proposal Oct. 17. 

Committee Chair Annette Babich said, “I think it's a missed opportunity anytime we have events. They have alcohol for public events in Lewes, in Georgetown, in Milford. There are rules around being able to have alcohol at events.”

Babich said the policy change would lay out the application process if an event organizer wanted to serve alcohol. She said there are already existing events where alcohol is served, including the St. Patrick’s Day parade. The annual Zombie Fest also serves alcohol within confined areas. In both of those cases, the main sponsors of the events, Irish Eyes and Milton Theatre, respectively, have existing liquor licenses. Same for outdoor events held at Dogfish Head’s brewery. 

Under the change, special events would be allowed to apply for a license to serve alcohol at a particular event. Among the considerations in any change to the policy are that the event must be related to a nonprofit organization, event organizers must communicate through signs the policies and locations of how and where alcohol is sold, and event staff must comply with town regulations related to alcohol. Event organizers must get a license, police coverage and liability insurance in order to hold an event where alcohol is sold, and the event must have designated areas where alcohol is served that is off limits to underage youth.

The rationale behind the change is that alcohol can be a large revenue source that boosts attendance with reasonable restrictions on consumption.

During discussion, the committee considered scenarios where alcohol could be served. Babich said it is important for the organization sponsoring the event to be a nonprofit because the point in being able to solve alcohol is to help raise money. 

Still, the committee wants to do further research and fine tune the proposed policy by collecting data on how much alcohol sales help nonprofit events and clarify rules to ensure there are no doubts about what is expected. While the committee expects some pushback on the proposal, it is convinced it could work. 

“I know other towns do allow it, they just have rules around it and it seems to work. I don’t see why we can’t,” Babich said.