ROGERS — Attendees may be able to quench their August thirst with a cold beer or glass of wine at Frisco Festival and the Benton County Fair this year.
When residents voted last year to turn dry Benton County wet, it opened the door to the possibility of beer gardens at public events on public property.
“It’s legal,” said Jim Clark, deputy city attorney.
State law allows nonprofit organizations to buy a temporary permit for beer and wine sales for a single event, Clark said.
Rogers doesn’t have an ordinance addressing nonprofit organizations selling beer or wine on public property.
“I guess I would compare it to any nonprofit wanting to close a street or municipal parking lot,” said Greg Hines, Rogers mayor. “We give Frisco Festival a pretty free rein to close streets and parking lots. I don’t see a problem.”
Organizations have to get approval from the City Council Transportation Committee to close a street or city-owned parking lot.
Clark said if an organization is going to sell something, in this case beer, a temporary vendor license from the city is also required.
Ben Lipscomb, city attorney, said the normal Alcoholic Beverage Control rules will apply to they events.
“Beer and wine can be sold and consumed at such an event, but only in an enclosed area. It’s still against the law to walk around drinking on a public street,” Lipscomb said.
Representatives of Main Street Rogers, which sponsors the annual Frisco Festival downtown, said Thursday beer and wine sales will be part of the festival this year.
Tim Craig, chairman of the Benton County Fair Board, said his organization also is considering selling beer at the annual fair. The fairgrounds are off Arkansas 12 just outside of Bentonville.
“We’re looking into the situation. People have been asking us about beer sales for about five years, but we couldn’t because Benton was a dry county,” Craig said. “I think there is a market for beer sales at the fair.”
Kerry Jensen, Main Street Rogers executive director, said the organization’s board discussed having a beer garden at some length before making the decision.
“Any decision you make isn’t going to make everybody happy and we may upset some people,” said Mark McCoy, chairman of the Main Street Rogers board.
Gary Townzen, who owns a barbershop on First Street where Frisco Festival is centered, said the beer garden won’t be a problem.
“I said from the beginning I wasn’t in favor of the county going wet, but it was overwhelming approved, so I don’t have a problem with a beer tent at Frisco Festival,” Townzen said. Townzen is also a Rogers alderman.
“The beer garden is just another attraction at Frisco Festival. If you don’t want to go to the beer tent, don’t go. Alcohol sales will be tightly controlled. This is still a family friendly event,” McCoy said.
“This will be a revenue resource for us. It takes money to stage Frisco Festival,” McCoy said.
Alcohol At Events
Main Street Rogers, sponsor of the annual Frisco Festival in downtown Rogers, plans on selling beer and wine at the festival, Oktoberfest and 3rd Friday events this year.
Source: Staff Report
Additional revenue is something the festival needs, Jensen said.
It costs about $25,000 for the two-day festival, but that doesn’t include the staff time that goes into the planning throughout the year and trade-outs with sponsors, officials said.
“It used to be easy to get sponsors for different events at the festival, but those days are gone,” Jensen said. “This will give us a product to sell, a way to bring in new revenue, which we need to continue to shine the spotlight on downtown Rogers.”
“How much money we will make is an unknown,” said Dana Mather, Main Street Rogers event coordinator. “We’ve never done this before so we really don’t know what to expect.”