School Board Votes Down Artomatic Beer Garden

Apparently the Frederick, Md. school board has something against drinking in schools. Hmph.

OK, that sounds pretty bad -- but here's the story. Artomatic Frederick, a five-week arts fest, is planning to use the former central office building on Church Street. The group wanted to have a gated beer garden on Friday and Saturday nights during the event, on the fourth floor of the building.

Arts fest: A-OK. Beer garden? Not so much. The school board voted it down, 4-1 with one abstention, reports the Frederick News Post.

Artomatic organizers said the inclusion of the beer garden would not be mentioned in schools, but some board members were still concerned about the message it could send to kids. Flyers promoting the event would mention that the school board was a sponsor. Deal-breaker right there.

"I abstained because, in theory, I support being able to use alcohol in that building because we're not using [it], and won't use it, even though we technically still own it," Board President Brad Young told the News Post. "But because we are listed as a partner, I can't support it."

Yeah, that whole situation probably would have been pretty awkward. We hope they enjoy their booze-free Artomatic (running Sept. 28-Nov. 6) all the same.


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