Santa Fe's 400 celebration strict on alcohol use

Posted at: 09/04/2009 1:09 AM | Updated at: 09/04/2009 1:10 AM
By: Gadi Schwartz, Eyewitness News 4; Charlie Pabst, KOB.com

Celebrations get underway this weekend for Santa Fe's 400th anniversary, but with all the celebrating comes the question of how to serve alcohol.

15,000 people are expected each day at the first weekend of the yearlong celebration.

Police say they are assigning extra officers to the event—especially after the city council barely approved a beer garden during a tie-breaking vote.

"It makes it a little bit harder once you put alcohol into a venue with numerous thousands of people," Santa Fe Police Lieutenant Dale Lettenberger said Thursday. "There are times when fights erupt due to the alcohol."

Organizers say the beer garden will only be open to ticketholders age 21 and over, and patrons will only be able to buy two drinks throughout the event.

"It's a double-edged sword," Santa Fe 400 Celebration President Maurice Bonal said. "Some people won't come because there is no alcohol, and there are others that threaten that they won't come because there is alcohol. However, a venue is a venue and a birthday is a birthday, and we are going to take all the precautions to make this thing work."

Event organizers say they have hired double the amount of security and will have servers in the beer garden keeping tabs on the 2-drink limit.

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