Dothan Changes Brown Bag Ordinance for National Peanut Festival Board
By: Jamiese Price
Updated: January 16, 2013
Dothan changed its Brown Bag Ordinance to allow National Peanut Festival Board Members to decide if people can bring alcohol to certain events held at the fairgrounds.
The city will no longer be involved in deciding who can bring booze to the fairgrounds. The National Peanut Festival Board will make that call.
The amendment was brought about after festival board members requested Toadlick Music Festival be a BYOB (Bring Your Own Beer) event.
Commissioners said their decision doesn't have anything to do with the event itself. Hamp Baxley said he trusts the peanut board members to make their own sound decisions.
"I don't think we should be micromanaging what goes on at the national peanut festival fairgrounds. That's as silly as us of determine what kind of roller coaster or bumper cars they should have. They are a mature organization. I think they understand how to run events and I think it's up to them to decide who should have events there and how they are operated," explained Baxley.
The Brown Bag Ordinance was passed last year as an effort to curb downtown violence. Commissioners said those problems don't exist at the fairgrounds. The only other exception to the ordinance is for social events like weddings. The changes are effective immediately.
