The Special Events Team met to review the Alcoholic Beverage Special Event Application for the 2025 Fitzgerald's St. Patrick's Day Celebration at their regular meeting on February 11, 2025.
Fitzgerald's is requesting to sell alcohol in Railroad Square during the following times:
Saturday, March 15th: 11:00am - 2:00am
Sunday, March 16th: 11:00am - 2:00am
Monday, March 17th: 11:00am - 2:00am
One of the conditions listed in City Ordinances under Section 3-5, (3) "Conditions for ABSEP approval. The ABSEP shall be subject to the following requirements and conditions as well as any conditions imposed by the city council as of its ABSEP approval." One of those conditions lists the "Hours of operation for the sales and/or consumption of beer and wine shall be limited to noon through 11:00 p.m. for events held on Monday through Saturday and 1:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. for events held on Sunday; the applicant shall be fully responsible for enforcing the hours of operation; and the applicant shall be liable for the failure to enforce the hours of operation." Based on the times requested by the event organizer, City Council would need to extend the hours of operation.
A site map denoting the locations of where alcohol will be sold, and the "wet zone" location is attached.
This is a three-day event, and an extension of a "wet zone" will need to be approved for Monday, March 17th event festivities. The "wet zone" would span from Adams Street west down Nebraska Ave" Railroad Square" and ending at the Grand Blvd intersection. A hard closure throughout the three-day event would be in place upon approval of the event.
The SET team had no objections to the applications submitted during the SET meeting. A second meeting occurred with event organizers and staff to finalize logistics for the event. Staff had no objections to the final submitted event plans.
Fitzgerald's is a downtown establishment that is licensed to sell alcoholic beverages and is requesting to utilize Railroad Square per the site map attached. This is an annual event held by the downtown business owner. This year's event includes a collaboration with other business owners located within Railroad Square.