State law allows liquor board to oversee new permitting for special events
Starting this summer, visitors to town festivals in Worcester County won’t have to choose between finishing their drinks inside a restaurant or stepping outside to catch the band.
A new state law allows alcoholic beverages to be carried outdoors within approved municipal event footprints, but only during permitted events and only through participating establishments. Gov. Wes Moore signed Senate Bill 846 into law May 26 after it passed both chambers of the legislature with no opposition. It takes effect July 1.
The law applies only to the towns of Berlin, Snow Hill, and Pocomoke City. Ocean City was not included in the bill at the request of resort officials, who raised concerns about public safety, liability, and whether to-go sales could cut into alcohol revenue for event promoters.
It also won’t turn Berlin into New Orleans: the law doesn’t create a permanent open container law but applies only during approved events and only in a designated area, for up to seven days at a time.
The proposal came from Worcester County’s tourism and economic development office – modeled after Wicomico County’s to-go drinks approach during the Maryland Folk Festival in Salisbury – to help bars and restaurants hold onto revenue during special events.
With the blessing of the Worcester County Commissioners, the tourism office worked with state lawmakers to turn the idea into reality.