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Town in Works to Open First Pocket Park with Beer Garden Event

The Town of Burlington has plans in the works to open its first Pocket Park with a Beer Garden event. 

The project, a small park in the Town Center that will be located next to Sweet Ginger at the corner of Cambridge Street and Moran Avenue, is meant to be a place where people can gather and has the goal of creating more interest in the businesses located in that part of town. It is the work of Economic Development Director Melisa Tintocalis who said it is an early step in generating renewed interest in the Town Center. 

“One main missions of the office is to enliven the areas around the small businesses,” she told the board. “We have a lot of opportunities to grow this area over time. What we’re trying to do is activate it by working with the property owner and business owners to revitalize underused areas.”

To kick things off she said she wanted to have a one-day beer garden event to celebrate the opening of the Pocket Park. This would be done with Boston-based Crafted, a craft beer event company, to give residents a chance to check out the new park and give businesses in the area a chance to offer special deals to get people more familiar with their wares. 

Christine Healy from Crafted said the event would be in a controlled environment with everyone’s ID’s checked before entering the park and only people of age being given wristbands that would allow them to purchase adult beverages. Moran Avenue would also be closed for the event for extra safety, something that has been discussed with local residents. 

Local restaurants would also be providing food from their locations in the Town Center that residents would be free to bring into the park with them to eat while enjoying a beer. 

The members of the Select Board were in favor of the event and mostly had a couple of safety related questions. In response they were told the Burlington Police Department would provide a detail and that Crafted would have staff members that would be there to monitor the situation to ensure no underage drinking was permitted. 

One question by Select Board Member Joe Morandi will have to be addressed before the event takes place. He pointed out that Burlington has a bylaw stating no alcohol can be sold without the option of food also be served and that while local businesses will be in the area with food options there is no plan to sell or provide food in the park itself. 

“In Burlington you can’t get beer without having food, how are we getting around that?” he asked. “Some restaurant owners have brought this up to me and they aren’t happy about it.” 

Tintocalis said the issue hadn’t been brought to her attention until the question was asked but she would look into it. Assistant Town Administrator John Danizio said there may be an exception because it was a one-day event but that he too would do some research. 

The board voted unanimously to approve the one-day liquor license with caveat that Morandi’s question be addressed. 

The Beer Garden event at Burlington’s first Pocket Park is scheduled to run from noon until 6 p.m. on Saturday, October 23. Click Here to watch a video we have featuring the project and the town’s goals for these types of parks moving forward.