Two months ago, we urged the city's Public Safety Committee to reject a request to allow people to carry open containers of beer and wine at the 2008 Cheese Days. While we saw benefits to the proposal, we feared that allowing alcohol to play a more prominent role in Cheese Days would damage the event's family appeal and perhaps cause additional crowd control issues.
Ultimately, the city committee approved the request. And, thankfully, the results from Cheese Days - just completed on Sunday - appear to indicate that our fears and objections were unfounded. We were wrong, and we're happy to say that we were.
Facilitating alcohol sales on the Square and allowing people to walk around with a plastic cup of beer or wine in their hands seems to have been a success. It was convenient. It didn't cause any problems on the Square. No tickets had to be issued for people carrying their drinks outside the well-marked, designated area. And bars on and just off the Square didn't seem to be as crowded as often as they were during past Cheese Days.
"From what I saw, bars on the Square weren't overcrowded," Monroe Police Chief Fred Kelley told the Times. Kelley said he believes the experiment of allowing open containers on the Square was a success.
The Square seemed more crowded this year, and the crowd seemed, well, a bit more cordial and a little more relaxed. And there wasn't an excessive number of public displays of drunkenness. There was an unfortunate incident at a bar on Friday night, but as Kelley pointed out it was the kind of thing that can happen on any night at any bar.
So, we commend the Cheese Days board for making the request, and the Public Safety Committee for accepting it. This is a case where it feels good to have been wrong, or at least overly cautious, on a particular issue.
Allowing alcohol on the Square enhanced Cheese Days. We would expect, and hope, that the same kind of waiver would be in the plans for the 2010 event.
Ultimately, the city committee approved the request. And, thankfully, the results from Cheese Days - just completed on Sunday - appear to indicate that our fears and objections were unfounded. We were wrong, and we're happy to say that we were.
Facilitating alcohol sales on the Square and allowing people to walk around with a plastic cup of beer or wine in their hands seems to have been a success. It was convenient. It didn't cause any problems on the Square. No tickets had to be issued for people carrying their drinks outside the well-marked, designated area. And bars on and just off the Square didn't seem to be as crowded as often as they were during past Cheese Days.
"From what I saw, bars on the Square weren't overcrowded," Monroe Police Chief Fred Kelley told the Times. Kelley said he believes the experiment of allowing open containers on the Square was a success.
The Square seemed more crowded this year, and the crowd seemed, well, a bit more cordial and a little more relaxed. And there wasn't an excessive number of public displays of drunkenness. There was an unfortunate incident at a bar on Friday night, but as Kelley pointed out it was the kind of thing that can happen on any night at any bar.
So, we commend the Cheese Days board for making the request, and the Public Safety Committee for accepting it. This is a case where it feels good to have been wrong, or at least overly cautious, on a particular issue.
Allowing alcohol on the Square enhanced Cheese Days. We would expect, and hope, that the same kind of waiver would be in the plans for the 2010 event.
