Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Bardstown Allows Sunday Liquor Sales.

You can now buy alcoholic beverages on Sunday within the city limits of Bardstown. The county government is expected to follow suit for the rest of Nelson County.

This wouldn't be worthy of much attention outside of the affected communities except for one thing. This is Bardstown, Kentucky, which styles itself as the Bourbon Capital of the World®.

So-called Blue Laws still exist in many parts of the U.S., prohibiting or restricting alcohol sales on Sunday. Slowly but surely, most of them are being repealed.

Bardstown is the seat of Nelson County, which is quickly following the city's lead. According to the Kentucky Standard, Nelson County Fiscal Court, in a first reading yesterday, approved expanding the county’s alcohol ordinance to include Sunday packaged sales.

Magistrates Maynard Wimsett, Sam Hutchins and Jerry Hahn voted yes on first reading, while Magistrate Bernard Ice dissented. Magistrate Tim Hutchins abstained due to what he felt is a conflict of interest since he owns a convenience store and is involved in a pending lawsuit with the city involving zoning.

Bardstown’s ordinance went into effect this past Sunday.

I'm not sure what prompted this sudden change, but the timing suggests tourism. People come to town, tour the distilleries, and want to purchase some of the local product. If they came on Sunday, they couldn't. Now they can.

1 comment:

Crash said...

Congratulations to Guthrie at Toddy's Liquor, and J.T. at Liquor World!