While the Government of Alberta has allowed partaking of alcoholic drinks in selected parks, and major Alberta cities are mulling the idea, Drumheller CAO Darryl Drohomerski says the idea is not being considered currently in Drumheller.
The idea of allowing alcoholic drinks in parks has made headlines in the last few weeks as Edmonton and Calgary are looking at pilot projects. The discussion has come up locally.
“We looked at options around to try and allow drinking in a park. We are not Calgary or Edmonton, where we have 375 parks, where they can allow it in a few of them,” said Drohomerski.
He said they also talked to the RCMP about the potential of allowing this, and there were some issues, particularly with drinking and driving.
“We felt it was really not worth it to go down this hole for what we think is a short period. If we unwrap it, would we ever be able to wrap it up again,” he said.
While under current provincial COVID-19 restrictions patios are closed, prior to this the Town of Drumheller expedited applications for patios for local businesses, including Valley Brewing.
“We allowed Valley Brewing to take more of Munchie Park for a temporary area for their patio,” said Drohomerski. “Munchie Park is still a public park, we don’t want it all turned into a drinking place, but at the same time we can help a business by allowing them to have more area to have their patrons be outside when they can’t be inside.”
There is an area of about 1,000 square feet in Munchie Park cordoned off as a patio for Valley Brewing to use. Owner of Valley Brewing, Nick Sereda, tells the Mail when restrictions are lifted, they will be able to use it and plan on opening it on weekends or times of high volumes to be able to safely space people.
“It is no different than how we approved temporary patios at Tim Hortons or Damoa,” said Drohomerski. “We don’t see it as something of a permanent change, and we would revisit it next year to see if there are any changes that we would consider.”
