Penn Township discusses adding beer garden to Fall Festival

Visitors to the Penn Township Fall Festival may have the chance to quench their thirst with an alcoholic beverage at this year’s event, if a proposal before the Penn Township board of commissioners is approved.

At a meeting Wednesday, commissioners discussed the possibility of adding a fire department benefit beer garden to the annual festival, scheduled for Sept. 15-17.

Mickey Ramien, a member of the township’s recreation board and fall festival committee, said the beer garden would be sponsored by all five Penn Township area fire departments: Level Green, Grandview, Paintertown, Harrison City and Claridge.

“This is in the infancy, this has just started rolling, so this is going to be a couple-month process before we get this through,” Ramien said, adding that some of the details, like prices, have not been finalized yet.

The departments would purchase and sell the beer with their fire halls’ alcohol licenses, and the licenses would be extended to the festival with a special events permit.

Ramien suggested inviting breweries, distilleries, and wineries to the event to be able to sell some of their products. He clarified after a question from Commissioner Chuck Konkus that only beer would be permitted to be consumed on-site. Konkus suggested specifically highlighting local wineries and breweries.

Visitors would only be allowed to drink alcohol within a fenced-in area, likely in one of the fields at the municipal park, Ramien said.

“A lot of these beer distributors and wineries and such, they’re right here in the township, they’re local businesses, so that helps people shop local, and probably brings more people to the festival,” said Commissioner Lisa Zaucha.

Ramien also brought up the possibility of holding the beer garden at summer food-truck events sponsored by the township. Some commissioners were unsure about the idea.

The beer garden proposal will be tabled until the upcoming April meeting, as commissioners expressed interest in hashing out the details.