DTM Beer Garden: event could set a welcome precedent

Here’s some pretty cool things about the upcoming Heal C-Ville Beer Garden event on November 18, on a few fronts. One, as unique event, bringing DTM restaurants and retailers together, along with a bunch of great breweries represented, to open up an actual section of the DTM into an event space for a cause. Two, as a precedent-setting step. Will this set the stage for other DTM street fair events?

As it stands now, ABC regulations prohibit restaurant patrons from walking the ten or fifteen feet between a restaurant door and an outdoor eating space with a drink in hand, but the Beer Garden event organizers, restaurateurs Hunter Smith and Will Rickey, came up with a way to circumvent that for this special event.

“We had a unique opportunity through Brasserie Saison to pull a manufacturer's multi-day event license from the Virginia ABC, which is a privilege extended to breweries in Virginia,” says Smith. “With support and input of the DBAC, ABC, and Virginia Tourism Corp.”

Basically, that means you’ll be able to walk around and drink beer between the corner of First Street, where Old Metropolitan Hall is, and the the west edge of the Paramount Theater. According to Smith, it will be very clear to people on the DTM that the area is not being blocked off for the event, but rather opened up for everyone to enjoy, or not.

Now imagine regular “street” fairs like this, where food and drink is available all around you as you stroll, and shops are pouring onto the street with their wares, and no one has to be corralled into cafe spaces, or herded into an event space at the Pavilion. Indeed, Smith says he hopes to organize more events like this in the future.

Heal C-Ville Beer Garden, November 18, 2pm to 6pm. All proceeds will benefit Unity C'ville [https://www.unitycville.com], a local non-profit committed to racial and economic justice that was started by Smith and John Kluge, with input from many other community stakeholders.