At the last Town Council Meeting a discussion was held concerning another of those Beer Garden Tailgates in Downtown Christiansburg.
All members of Town Council and the Mayor supported doing this EXCEPT for Brad Stipes. Councilman Stipes stood firmly on his belief that this is not setting a good example for the youth of our Town.
I have to admit that I agree with him. If activities are planned that are being held out of doors in a public venue, those activities to not have to revolve around the consumption of alcohol. Why couldn’t the same thing be accomplished without alcohol? What about an ice cream social? What about an evening of music under the stars at the amphitheater where families could gather, picnic or buy hotdogs, or whatever. Let those who can make a donation to the charities that would “benefit” from the sale of alcohol.
Is alcohol required to have a good time in Christiansburg? Is that the only way to build a sense of community? I would certainly hope not.
Do the ice cream social downtown. Let Macado’s sell the liquor indoors, maybe they would donate back a percentage of there take to agencies accepting donations. The sales tax generated would still help generate revenue for the Town. What about a ‘street theater’ where local acting groups could put on a performance at the amphitheater or on Main Street, again without alcohol. It may be hard to believe but people really can have fun without alcohol.
I know there are a lot of people who will disagree with me on this one. But, I just do not like the idea of public consumption of alcohol. I certainly do not like the idea of it occurring at ‘family’ oriented events.
Regardless of where you stand on this, simply consider the fact that it takes greater courage to voice your opposition to something like this (as Mr. Stipes did) than it does to simply not come to it.
As Mayor Ballengee noted during the meeting, they had not received any complaints so there was no need to prevent there being another such event. I voiced my opinion to council members last year on this, and I take the same position now that I had then. There are other ways to get people to come out and have some fun, raise some money for agencies that need it, and NOT center it on alcohol. Other arguments included the statement that they had not had any problems. My argument to that is one word “yet”. (Although I have heard citizens say that they saw people urinating beside and behind buildings and a bit of pushing and shoving occurred in a couple of instances.) Is it really necessary to wait until something bad does happen to do anything?
I’ll just bet our Police Department has better things to do than monitor such a ‘party’.
Thank you Councilman Stipes for acknowledging my concerns in this matter and for voting NO when all others voted YES!
Citizens need to take the time to let Council members know of their feelings either for or against such events. And, if you are going to speak against them, offer up some other ideas of things to do that don’t include alcohol.
By the way, exactly how much do these types of activities cost the Town? Is the Town compensated for all expenses? How much money do the non-profit agencies this is suppose to support actually receive? Who covers insurance on the events? Who covers set up and clean up costs? What about the overtime hours (if needed) by police officers? Who provides a way home for anyone who may not be in a safe condition to drive?
BK
April 18, 2010 at 6:23 pm
Funny comment Benson. While direct to the point, and a tad bit terse, it’s very accurate. An ice cream social just would not draw a young “spending” crowd. I don’t think however that it is necessarily about the “fun police” attempting to intrude.
I believe there must be a degree of control exercised by those in charge of the festivals. Thus far, those who have handled the tailgate parties and the sale of alcohol have done a fantastic job, so I see no reason to prevent future festivals where beer is available. If the concern is those that “pre-drink” and arrive already intoxicated, then just a simple turning away at the one consolidated entrance should be a sufficient control mechanism.
Where I see an issue is in the fact that Mr. Stipes seems somewhat intent on overlooking the good these festivals do, as well as the fact that no major problems have stemmed from them, and would instead prefer to govern via his own moral beliefs. What may be good for he and his family, doesn’t mean that I should have to accept it as good for mine. I commend the councilman for his personal beliefs, but lets leave that out of the equation and govern by what is good for our town as a whole.
Simple common sense, and steady, smart control of the beer sales/entrance is a good compromise. Don’t fix things that aren’t broken.
Carol Lindstrom
April 18, 2010 at 6:51 pm
I would tend to think that the greater concern would be those who get there ‘Town’ drinks then wander into Macados for a few more. But the real point is the courage it take to stand on your convictions AND upon those of the citizens that you, as an elected official, has heard from. Truth be told, you can give me your comments all you want but those are not the comments that Town Council should be basing decision upon. Those types of comments should go directly to the Council Members. Be you for or against, your voice counts. Write or call your Council Members.
benson
April 13, 2010 at 7:00 pm
Gee golly I think that your idea is swell. To bad this is 2010 and not the 1950s. In your dream world of leave it to beaver reruns this might make sense, but the reason no one is putting on an ice cream festival is because no one would show up. Ice cream fest, please, you might as well put on a crocheting festival. This is to attract the young crowd. The young people of Christiansburg are its future, and with out them this place would never grow. Quit being the fun police and give us have at least one day that you don’t intrude on our lives.
dental hygienist
April 13, 2010 at 11:59 am
nice post. thanks.
BK
April 13, 2010 at 9:50 am
Sorry but, as a vendor at the last three tailgate events, I have to disagree with you.
These events were all well done, fun, and actually very family friendly. The sale of beer is limited and very controlled. In fact, I have yet to witness one incident at these events, alcohol related or otherwise. I see no harm in this as long as it remains supervised in the same manner it has been.
Frankly, I have grown tired of the “what example are we setting for our youth” argument. If parents drink, then it’s highly likely their children have already witnessed it. Second, there is no rule that says C-burg events must be 100% family friendly. My wife and I would actually welcome a few more grown-ups only events that don’t require going to a loud, crowded bar because, let’s face facts, sometimes us parents need a break for the munchkins. Third, I have yet to see anyone causing problems at these events. It’s not like it’s a Mardi Gras type atmosphere with ladies flashing and folks vomiting in the streets every other minute. There isn’t really anything I can think of that I would deem terribly inappropriate happening, so I see no issues there. Lastly, these events run quite long – trust me on this one. There is plenty of time early to bring the children for a while, then whisk them off to the sitter, before everyone gets all Girls Gone Wild off of the grand 4 beers they are allowed to purchase.
If you want more “family-friendly” events, then arrange them. Perhaps a Spring Day, or work in another festival of some sort. The more events we offer, the more we help our downtown area thrive.
These tailgating events are good for Christiansburg and good for our downtown businesses. In case everyone missed it at the last three, these events bring in a lot of outsiders – like Marshall and GT alums – who spend money in our town. The town officials, promoters and police officers have always done a terrific job managing these events with little-to-no issue. I see no reason to fix something that is not broken.
Carol Lindstrom
April 13, 2010 at 1:37 pm
You bring up some very good points. In particular, it was noted in the citizen satisfaction survey done by the town for the comprehensive plan, that many citizens did want more adult activities. I think it would be a great idea to have activities that were only for adults, some only for youth (supervised to a reasonable degree) like a street dance, some for families with small children. We have an amphitheater that has never been used for any public purpose. So long as the town continues to wait for individuals or groups to come up with all the ideas of things to do and to do those things for them, they will continue to miss the boat in the potential benefits for having a wide variety of activities. I won’t go into a lot of detail at this time, but I have been doing a lot of research on this. It is my hope that the new Tourism group will be able to help pick up the town’s slack in this area. BUT! That is an agency dedicated to tourism, community building events should be the arena of the town and the citizens. A lot of citizens in Christiansburg go to Floyd or Blacksburg for quality community events (i.e., Fork and Cork for most recent).
It is like the town has tunnel vision and the potential for activities and events is just ignored in favor of doing it the easiest way. Doing things the easiest way and the most money generating way is what has led us to the financial problems we have in our country. Working with citizens, talking, discussing, looking at options, coming up with ideas and implementing them, is not the easy way out. It is work, a lot of work, but it does far more than simply bring people into town to shop.
Additionally, there has been no study of the financial impact these events have. Shopping and meals could easily be a function of the ‘pre-Game Day activities’ that would normally occur. It shouldn’t be impossible to work with local businesses to come up with ways to collect information on the impact of activities. One thing I can guarantee at this point is that the town is more likely to hear from those who are negatively impacted than those with a positive impact. And, those negative impacts are valid concerns. I bet solutions could be found to mitigate those negative impacts if the town would simply use its greatest resource, the citizens, to come up with ideas.
Unfortunately, for citizens to work with government requires mutual respect and trust that appears to be lacking these days.
BadMoJo
April 12, 2010 at 12:41 pm
Excellent points you make here! I agree, it would be nice if the ‘tailgates’ and beer themed activities were balanced out more with family friendly type activities. Maybe if the tourism program gets going again it could be something they might be able to contribute to.
Carol Lindstrom
April 12, 2010 at 1:35 pm
I don’t profess to know everything about Tourism, but I am looking forward to seeing what comes from the new group. In my opinion, Tourism needs to be something that can bring a variety of people to the area. Historically, with Christiansburg, tourism has been focused on sports or on events that draw local people. I just feel like we need to have some understanding of the differences between Community Building activities and Tourism activities. Community Building can easily serve local citizens while encouraging participation by people in other areas of the NRV. When it comes to pure Tourism, I’d like to see people from all over the state, the nation, and international customers.
I use the word customers because I believe that everyone who comes to an event is essentially a customer. Whether or not that choose to spend money in town on food or lodging, they are a walking advertising media for those who may come to the next such event. How those customers experience the event will have a lot to do with who and what they say to others.
Community events (local focus) and Tourism events (broader range) need variety in order to reach a broad an audience as possible yet there needs to be a ‘core theme for the region’ that causes people to come back. Healthy tourism is not simply about getting people to come, it is about getting them to come back and bring their friends with them:)
And, like the Aquatic Center (when it is finally opened), we will need citizens to get behind efforts to make it successful. This is where the Town Council and the Tourism Development group(s) can make a huge impact. Helping people to understand that it is that bit of inconvenience in traffic, shopping lines, or whatever that will help generate the revenue needed to keep property taxes down while continuing to provide and improve on services to citizens. Informing citizens of the pros and the cons and helping them to see that the benefits outweigh the inconvenience would be a good start to accomplishing those.
At the onset, I would try to help people understand the difference between “local tourism” (more community building in nature) and “regional/national” tourism. Each of those is important and each holds the potential of contributing significantly to the economy of the region. Ultimately, I feel that what is good for the New River Valley is good for Christiansburg.
Thanks for you comment. You hit the nail on the head. We need not be exclusionary, we simply need to have variety.