Are alcohol sales at public festivals and events harmless acceptance of relaxed, modern social mores or do they represent acquiescence to harmful behavior just because everyone else is doing it?
The way one answers that question will probably determine his reaction to a recent controversy in Lowell.
What’s The Point?
The decision of whether to allow alcohol at Lowell’s annual Mudtown Days should conform to the town’s standards, but that’s not always easy to discern.
Every year, organizers in Lowell put on Mudtown Days. This year is the 38th iteration of the event, which takes its name from the nickname some stagecoach drivers and passengers supposedly gave to town back when the Butterfield Stagecoach stopped there. The festival is schedule for May 30-31 at Ward Nail Park.
Local lore says the mud on the roads was sometimes such a problem the stagecoach would get stuck. Some, according to Mudtown Days' historical recollection, suggest the muddy roads were purposeful, a form of economic development. The stagecoach got stuck, the people on board would stay in town longer, oftentimes at Nail's Tavern and Dram Shop. One can assume what kind of beverage might have been served there.
Times have changed, however, if one gauges by the conversation at a recent Lowell City Council meeting.
Alderman Dean Bitner pressed an ordinance to allow beer and wine sales during Mudtown Days. He asked his fellow aldermen to suspend the rules of the City Council and rush the ordinance through. If approved, the libations would be available at the big event next month.
Suspending the rules, however, requires a supermajority vote. Three aldermen -- Tom Evers, Janette Lasater and Ronnie Breland -- opposed the move, and that was enough to keep the measure from advancing.
"I just don't see what the rush is," Evers said. "We live in a town that doesn't like change. The county voted wet and now we want to open a beer garden in a park. What's next -- a beer garden anytime anybody wants one? I, for one, don't want my kids exposed to drunks."
Backers noted the Arkansas Beverage Control agency has strict rules for such events, such as cordoning off the area where alcoholic beverages are sold so no one under 21 is allowed in.
But opponents weren't budging. Lasater told her colleagues her personal moral objection to alcohol means she would never vote for alcohol sales in the city.
"I think you are fooling yourself if you don't think some of those people carrying plastic cups at Mudtown Days aren't drinking," said Bitner, offering a defense of the proposal. "If you allow drinking in a control area at least you know where they are and can allow the police to handle the situation."
But like a stagecoach traveling into Mudtown, the issue was going no where fast.
"I just don't see the reason for us to have a beer garden in a city park that's designed for children and families," Evers said.
So who is right? Well, this is the kind of thing that ought to follow community standards, so what Fayetteville or Rogers might choose isn't the right choice for Lowell? It certainly sounds like a majority of aldermen would welcome the addition, but from a parliamentary perspective, they're in a rut.
So, at least for now, it's possible to celebrate Mudtown even when its dry.
Commentary on 04/22/2014