Art in Park Wine Sales Under Review By City

By Annie Nelson, Columbia Daily Tribune, Mo.

Apr. 30–People who attend Art in the Park could end up sipping Riverboat Red while wandering the Columbia Art League event this year if the Columbia City Council likes a report about the proposed sale of alcohol at the festival.

“I was the one that brought it up,” Second Ward Councilman Chris Janku said. “The art league mentioned it was something they were interested in.”

Not only is league Executive Director Jill Stedem interested, she has a vision.

“We want the festival to grow into a jazz, blues, wine and art festival,” she said Friday.

Stedem said the festival’s move to Stephens Lake Park has created an opportunity for growth and a demand for space where folks can have a picnic — and perhaps an alcoholic beverage.

“We have had a request for the last several years from visitors to see the festival grow, to have a wine garden or beer garden,” Stedem said.

The council faces a quandary.

There is no specific city ordinance banning the sale of alcohol in public parks, but it has been the department’s policy for decades.

“At least my 23 years with the department,” said Mike Hood, director of the Columbia Parks and Recreation Department.

Another mechanism that would allow alcohol in the park opened up in 2004 when the city council modified a section of the city code prohibiting vending or peddling in public parks to allow for a regularly licensed concessionaire to sell goods, with permission from the parks and recreation director.

“Nonprofit groups may now file a park special use permit requesting permission to sell at their event,” Hood wrote in the report.

The art league applied for and received a special use permit. The council would have to decide whether that permit extends to the sale of alcohol.

The city has also previously allowed not-for-profit organizations to co-sponsor concession sales including alcohol at the city’s two golf course clubhouses as well as the Rainbow Softball Center.

Mayor Darwin Hindman said he likes the idea of alcohol sales at Art in the Park, but he understands it’s an administrative nightmare.

“There are restrictions of sales of anything in parks,” Hindman said. “On the other hand, we do allow sales under certain circumstances. I just think it is a good time to sit down and rethink this. It seems to me there ought to be certain situations when private groups should be allowed to sell alcohol when we know it will be under control.”

Hood worries about those private groups. “Let’s say, should it only be sold at communitywide events, or if a private organization wanted to rent a picnic shelter and set up a bar, assuming they are selling alcohol to make money, should they be doing that on public land?” he asked.

Laura Royse, director of marketing and sales for Les Bourgeois Winery, the private wine vendor the art league wants to host, said the winery has a long-standing partnership with the art league.

“In most events that we do that are not-for-profit, we share our sales,” she said.

Les Bourgeois plans to be at the festival with wine whether they get to sell it or not. “We will definitely be there as one of the sponsors, pouring samples,” she said.

In addition to the public use problem, Hood said there are a host of other issues. State alcohol regulations come into play. If sold by the drink and not by the container, such as a wine bottle, alcohol sales would be limited to a defined location that would qualify for licensing by the state. Introducing alcohol also might require introducing security in the event problems arise.

“I guess my concern with that is: What is the key issue for parks and recreation?” Stedem asked. “Is it safety or a monopoly on alcohol sales?”

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