MILTON, Del. - A new rule that allows nonprofits to sell alcohol at events in the community is approved. The ordinance will require organizations to still fill out a special events application, but allows events held in town limits to sell beer and wine.
Prior to this, J.P. Lacap said the Milton Theatre's events like Zombie Fest and summer concerts would have to keep beer and wine to the premises. Now, it can be anywhere in town limits, which Lacap said will make more businesses like dogfish inclined to help.
"Some of our biggest donors are our local breweries, so not just for the Milton Theatre but for every other organization locally who are trying to raise funds - arguably the biggest industry that we have locally so as far as branding and sponsorships are concerned, it's going to be a lot easier for us and also for them to approach our local breweries for support." said Lacap.
However others who live in town said this would change the family atmosphere downtown, "Do we need little kids to see people falling over, drinking and getting sloppy from the alcohol? No, it's not a wise move." said Clara Escobar.
Karen Falk with the Milton Chamber of Commerce tells me she's excited to see more opportunities like this to draw more people into town for nonprofit events like the Horseshoe Crab and Shorebird Festival.
Milton police and fire departments still need to review the special event application to have alcohol at these events, but Escobar doesn't see how this could be well managed without problems.
"Sometimes people drink and get violent and their going to have fights starting." said Escobar.
Councilwoman Annette Babich hopes for nonprofits to start applying to have this as early as June, but the special event application also needs to be reviewed by the Milton Parks and Recreation committee before organizations can begin applying. Their next meeting to discuss this will be May 24.
