By Kellen Olshefski
Correspondent
The City of Elkhorn Common Council approved a slew of alcohol licenses at its meeting last Monday night, the most notable of which included licenses for the Holiday Affair Craft Show and Plaza Mexico de Elkhorn, both to be held at the Walworth County Fairgrounds.
The Holiday Affair Craft Show had previously come before the Council for approval. At that time, however, councilmembers questioned how much wine would be available at the event, such as whether it would be available at all of the buildings. They opted to hold off on approving the license until they had additional information.
It was noted last week that wine would only be served at the Log Cabin during the event.
Alderman Scott McClory asked whether wine servings would be limited to one, such as through a ticketing or coupon system, as it is likely that many attendees would be driving home from the fairgrounds.
Walworth County Fairgrounds General Manager Larry Gaffey said the vast majority of the attendees to the craft show are females between the ages of 30 and 70, and many would be riding shuttle buses.
Gaffey said said he doesn’t anticipate that anyone would have any more than one glass of wine, noting “it’s not like a bar,” as attendees would be there primarily for the craft show and there are eight other buildings to visit on the tour besides the Log Cabin.
The Plaza de Mexico Elkhorn event – an event featuring bulls, horses, music and other cultural events at the grandstand – was also discussed at Monday’s meeting.
A recent, similar event handled by the same promotion company resulted in several loud noise complaints. Gaffey said he has spoken with Elkhorn Police Chief Joel Christenson since the event to discuss the complaints.
Gaffey said he agrees the event was too loud, and he has since spoken to the promoter, which agreed to let the fairgrounds address and regulate the volume at the event.
“They want to come back and continue to do them,” Gaffey said. “It was a really neat event.”
Ultimately, the Council voted unanimously in favor of the alcohol licenses for both events, as well as license renewals for multiple establishments in the City.
