Alcohol will no longer be allowed in rented town facilities like the gym, following a split decision by the Camp Verde Town Council last week.
Alcohol will also be prohibited at most of the town’s events, except for Fort Verde Days and the Pecan, Wine and Antiques Festival.
Of course, each event will be reviewed on a case by case basis by the council. For instance, the Verde Valley Rangers Sheriff’s Posse recently won approval to sell beer in this June’s attempt to keep the Crawdad Festival alive. The town recently stopped sponsoring the event due to budget constraints.
Council members Ron Smith and Greg Elmer voted against the ban of alcohol in rented facilities.
The town’s Parks and Recreation Commission had recently advised the council to ban alcohol in town buildings. Parks and Recreation Director Lynda Moore said that while the gym may be booked every weekend with a private event, resources were being spent on clean up, and there was concern that spilled beer was causing damage to the gym floor.
Council member Norma Garrison was the lone opposing vote to allowing alcohol at Fort Verde Days; The Pecan and Wine Festival she said she could understand.
Garrison has been lobbying for more family-oriented events, arguing that selling alcohol leaves the town open to liability as well as hurting local bars that depend on alcohol sales for their business.
Smith argued that drinking is a matter of personal responsibility, and that while the town no longer made money off of alcohol sales on town property, nonprofit organizations did.
There was a brief moment of reminiscence about when people used to just drink on the street as long as they didn’t get out of hand, as well as when one of the attractions in the Fort Verde Days parade was a still on a wagon that passed out whiskey.
However, the council quickly acknowledged those days were long gone.
