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Volume 10, Number 45 | December 13, 2018
Deck the streets with hops and barley By Megan Tackett Sopris Sun Staff
Julie Paxton and Ruth Young, who usually sing songs like “Home on the Range” and “Tumblin’ Tumbleweed” along with their vocal group, Cowboy Corral, wore different hats on First Friday as they magically morphed into carolers. The “Renaissance Cowboy Christmas Chorale” belted out the songs of the holiday season on the Fourth Street Plaza and The Launchpad. Photo by Jane Bachrach
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Allowing open containers on the closed portion of Main Street on First Fridays would have been a nice idea for many, but the logistics required to make it a reality proved burdensome. And besides, several local restaurant proprietors have come up with a working compromise on their own: the “floating” decks. That was the consensus at a recent special events task force meeting. “We’ve ended up with a kind of accidental drinking in the streets with the deck permits,” said cochair Jake Boyle. “There are a lot more establishments serving out on Main Street, which kind of indirectly serves that purpose. You could have friends that walk past when you’re out on the deck and be able to socialize without officially going through all the hoops.” While those deck permits have been heavily utilized by establishments in the core downtown area, the rollout wasn’t completely smooth at first, member and town trustee Marty Silverstein noted. “There was some good education going on, because not everyone understood it in the beginning that you can’t just order a beer and help yourself to the deck — there has to be a server who brings it out to you — and you can’t pass it to your buddy who’s leaning on the deck.” That said, he felt any early policy execution hiccups served more as an opportunity than hindrance to its future. All things considered, Boyle thought the rollout of the deck permits went as well as could be expected. “I think it worked out really smoothly. It’s grown from establishment to establishment — rather than establishing a separate entity to have to police it,” he said. “I’m all for it. It’s a uniquely Carbondale EVENTS page 10
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