No sipping while strolling: Columbia changes alcohol rules for First Thursday on Main

For nearly a decade, residents have been able to walk along the sidewalks of Columbia’s Main Street while enjoying a glass of beer or wine during the monthly First Thursday on Main events.

But now, as First Thursday is set to return after being sidelined for a year because of the pandemic, those beer and wine rules have changed.

The comeback of First Thursday on Main is set for June 3, headlined by performances from Dear Blanca and Stagbriar, two of the more popular bands on the local scene, at Boyd Plaza, adjacent to the Columbia Museum of Art.

And while Columbia City Council voted earlier in May to allow beer and wine consumption on Boyd Plaza in connection with First Thursday, the city will not allow people to walk up and down the sidewalks with their beer and wine, as has been customary during the event for many years. In the past it has been common for people to take their drinks with them as they stroll along Main on First Thursday and check out the offerings at various shops and businesses.

City and police officials say it is a public safety issue, as Main Street has become busier as it has been revitalized during the last decade. With many new restaurants, bars, shops, hotels and other offerings on the street, vehicular traffic has increased, and officials worry about residents consuming alcohol and crossing into roadways.

“Obviously, Main Street has grown and changed” in the last decade, City Manager Teresa Wilson told the City Council at a May 4 meeting. “The event organizers certainly were requesting to partake in beer and wine up and down Main Street during the event. This year, we did not approve that but did approve for them to be in Boyd Plaza. ... This was more about public safety concerns that (the police department) has with that movement up and down the street and intersections not being blocked and people crossing.”

Wilson said the matter could be reviewed later in the year. There are First Thursday events scheduled for the initial Thursday each month through the rest of this year.

Some business owners are bristling at the change.

Daniel Boan is a co-owner of Drake’s Duck-In, the long-running chicken restaurant on Main Street. It has been common for Drake’s to sell craft beer and wine in front of its location on First Thursday, which residents can then carry with them as they continue up the sidewalk.

“It’s part of First Thursday,” Boan said of the stroll-and-sip tradition of the event. “It’s part of what makes it unique, the ability to go from business to business carrying beer or wine. At Drake’s we’ve offered craft beer on the patio, and it was a great way for us to expose ourselves to new people. People got to stop with us and then go somewhere else.

“So, what you are going to do is take an event where people would walk up and down the street and enjoy Main Street to a place where they are going to stand in one (venue) the whole time.”

Phill Blair is a board member for First Thursday on Main and the longtime owner of The Whig bar located at Main and Gervais streets. He said he’d like the city to reconsider the alcohol rule for First Thursday for coming months.

“Bringing it back has been a lot of work,” Blair said of the event. “I think that once we get this first month out of the way .... we could take it back to the city and try to get it approved properly.”

Blair said a central concept of First Thursday is for patrons to walk around the Main Street district visiting businesses. While they can still do that in the new setup, they won’t be able to carry their beer and wine along with them, which could alter the vibe of the event.

“It’s always been a boon for the businesses, because people aren’t tethered to one location,” Blair told The State. “They can spend money up and down the street and go up and down the street from the 1200 block to the 1700 block. That’s always been the deal that we pushed.”