Special Events Involving Alcoholic Beverages By Kristina Peterson, Director of Underwriting, SDPAA It’s that time for preparations to begin for celebrations, parades, street dances and other festivities in your area. While discussions of the event may be underway, if your event involves alcohol, there are extra steps to be taken to make sure everyone has fun and stays safe. Members may choose to provide alcohol themselves or may consider contracting out the alcohol services. We recommend teaming up with a local business with a liquor license to provide the alcohol and services. Any vendor should provide evidence of liability coverage of at least $1,000,000 to you, the Member, and show the Member added as an additional insured. We also recommend having a contract in place with hold harmless/indemnification language. Sample documents can be found on our website: www.sdpaaonline.org. When alcohol is being provided by Members, employees and volunteers should be trained and up to date on the entity’s policies and procedures, and be trained in the acceptable forms of ID in South Dakota. Generally acceptable forms of ID include:
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Valid driver’s license State issued identification card Military ID Current passport
Entities may wish to enroll employees and/or volunteers in the SD Responsible Serving of Alcohol Certification Course, to ensure proper procedures are followed. This course teaches state laws regarding alcohol service, how to recognize fake IDs and techniques for providing a safe environment for attendees. The course is offered online through Professional Server Certification Corporation. More information can be found on their website: http://www.servercertificationcorp.com/. In addition to properly checking IDs and clearly identifying those that meet the legal age limit, Members should provide adequate security at the event by hiring a private security firm or work with local law enforcement to provide a safe environment for the event. Law enforcement resources can be limited and Members may choose to provide additional employees and volunteers who have been trained and/or certified to help law
SOUTH DAKOTA MUNICIPALITIES
