The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
The Grinch who stole special events?
The idea of figuring out a way to allow imbibers in Crested Butte to carry open containers around some sections of town was squashed again by the CB Town Council. The second such discussion reached the same conclusion as the first: Crested Butte will continue to enforce the state’s liquor code and not try to amend its code to allow open containers.
The council had asked John Belkin, the town attorney, to look into allowing consumption of alcohol in public places. Mayor Aaron Huckstep has said it was his understanding that Breckenridge allowed such open containers of alcohol.
Belkin said his research indicated allowing open containers wasn’t easy to accomplish unless the council wanted to pursue a so-called “entertainment district.” Leadville and Snowmass have such districts that Belkin said allow limited open containers in public.
“If it’s not a big deal, I’d be willing to look into it more,” said Councilperson Roland Mason.
“The intent was to make it easier to administer some special events and make it easy on the marshals,” said Huckstep. “The breadth of this with an entertainment district has gotten wider.”
The council had a lot of questions that Belkin was not prepared to answer without a work session to delve into the ramifications.
“This is so someone can go casually from one establishment to another with a drink. It’s not meant to be Mardi Gras every day,” said Councilperson Glen Michel.
“I’m not familiar with the entertainment district concept but I have some early concerns,” said Tom Martin, Crested Butte’s chief marshal. “Without being the Grinch who stole the special events, I have concerns over increasing consumption and the ramifications. If it in any way promotes more consumption, I would proceed with caution. I think the consumption would go way up under something like this and we have our hands full with over-consumption on a lot of the special events already.
“If the burden then falls on the marshals it will be that much harder,” Martin continued. “I’m afraid consumption would go up and control would go down. If you go with an entertainment district, I’d rather see it excluding special events like Vinotok or Big Air.”
“I tend to support Tom’s position,” said Huckstep. “As the guy who brought it up, I would just as soon let it lie.”
“I initially supported it too but I don’t want to see Bourbon Street on Elk Avenue,” added Councilperson Shaun Matusewicz.
The rest of the council agreed and they asked the staff to take no further action.
