Two separate drinking laws have taken effect this year in Utah. The first was in July when the liquor licensing laws changed. The second was implemented on December 30th dropping Blood Alcohol Content to .05 as the legal driving limit. Carolyn Murray has this story on how some restaurants have been affected during this holiday season:
Ronnie Wedig manages the No-Name Saloon, Butchers Chop House, the Boneyard Saloon and Wine Dive. He doesn’t think the impacts of the new Blood Alcohol Content law will be felt until after the Holidays, Sundance and World Championship events are over. He said 95 percent of the people are visitors and have transportation and accommodations arranged. He is more worried about the off-season effects of the new law.
“We’re a tourist destination here so, they already have hotels, Air B and B’s. they have lodging ahead of time. They’re taking buses, public transportation, Uber’s, Lyfts. I don’t think we’re going to see the impacts or feel the impacts during these busy times. We are worried about during the off season when people travel from out – of – state or within state with cars and instead of just having a drink with dinner, having no drinks or foregoing it altogether and not coming.”
He said their best strategy is to try to adapt to the changes the legislature imposes. The state and county restaurant associations couldn’t persuade Utah law makers to consider the impacts it could have on the hospitality business. He thinks locals will be more likely to stay home during that quieter shoulder season.
“The one thing I am hearing from locals is the .05 is the icing on the cake for them to imbibe at home. You know, the biggest complaint was the hassle to get up to Main Street to deal with parking and traffic. But the .05 was the icing on the cake for them to avoid Old Town. You know it’s just the parking and you add the .05, it’s just too much. We’ll just stay home.”
Liquor license designations changed in July and with the influx of holiday and family travel to Park City, restaurants without the proper license must turn away groups of diners who have kids under 21 years old.
The owner of the Crystal Park Cantina, Doug Illman, located on Park City’s Historic Main street said he thinks the state is losing tax revenue due to the licensing changes imposed in July.
“I know for a fact I had to turn away business because over the Christmas holidays because I couldn’t accommodate the families like I did last year upstairs. And, I know for a fact having talked to some other business owners in the community, the fact that they lost their tavern license. It not only shot the business owners in the foot, but it really shot the state in the foot. I mean there’s sales tax revenue that couldn’t get accumulated because we couldn’t allow children into and area that we used to be able to allow children into. In our community, Christmas, you know, the 10 days, the two weeks, really is family which I love. There were a lot of places taken out of the mix because of the change in the law."
He said the legislature should work to promote the state as a fun place for families to visit. He said the licensing regulations don’t do that.
“If the State was really serious about trying to compete with other ski areas around the country and around the world, they’d want to probably make it as accommodating to the people who come into the community as possible. So, if they really want to promote Utah business and Utah skiing business, they’d want to really re-think how they’re doing things as to how they promote the State. Because there are a still a lot of misconceptions out there that Utah is dry, or Utah is not a fun place to come."
There were two DUI arrests made by the Park City Police Department in the early morning hours of New Year’s Day. Captain Phil Kirk said both drivers were intoxicated in excess of .08 blood alcohol content. There were no DUI arrests in Heber City or in Summit County during the New Year holiday. The Wasatch County Sheriff Department arrested about 10 people for DUI infractions from the middle of December through the New Year.
