Underage and excessive drinking are frequent occurrences at summer festivals and outdoor events operating under temporary “Class B” or Class “B” licenses in Wisconsin. The La Crosse area enjoys 30-40 of these events between May and September each year with a significant impact on the community alcohol environment[i]
Over a three-year period, 16 area festivals were surveyed by teams of “secret shoppers” from a local coalition looking for specific alcohol serving practices research showed prevent and reduce underage and excessive drinking.[ii]
The four practices that prevent and reduce underage drinking are:
- I.D. checks at the entrance to serving area
- Wrist bands to identify attendees age 21 or older
- A secure perimeter (fence) around the serving area
- Distinguishable cups that allow for easy identification of alcohol vs alcohol-free beverages
The seven policies and practices that prevent and reduced excessive (binge) drinking are
- Limiting the number of beverages that can be purchased at a time.
- Servings sized 12 oz. or smaller
- No discount alcohol pricing
- No sales to obviously intoxicated individuals
- Prohibiting servers from drinking
- Ending alcohol sales one hour before closing
- Food and alcohol-free beverages available where alcohol is sold.
After the results were compiled, festival organizers were briefed on the findings. No-cost server training and technical assistance was available to encourage implementation of the identified policies. While policies that reduced underage drinking were widely adopted, policies that reduced excessive alcohol use were less frequently implemented. Overall, implementation of the 11 identified practices was slow and uneven.
It appeared the volunteer groups operating these events did not feel an urgent need to reform their overall serving practices. To create that urgency, the La Crosse coalition is pursuing a uniform set of conditions on all Class B Temporary alcohol sales licenses requiring implementation of the identified policies. The license conditions force the organization sponsoring each event to implement these specific strategies or risk losing alcohol sales completely the following year.
If alcohol sales are essential to the operation and success of the festival, license conditions allow the festival to proceed with confidence that policies supporting community health and safety will be undertaken at the event.
Wisconsin Alcohol Policy Project[i]This summary was drawn from Voluntary Use of Best Practices to Curb Underage and Binge Drinking at Community Festivals in a Midwestern Community. Rooney, Herlitzke, Kolkmeier, Sherman, and Hargarten. Unpublished, 2014.
Ii