MARQUETTE, Mich. (WZMQ) – The Marquette City Commission on Monday night unanimously approved a social district downtown. This social district (pictured below) will allow the community to socially enjoy alcoholic drinks on the sidewalks of Marquette. The only requirements for the social district are; drinks need to be in the designated social district cups, accompanied by a logo of the establishment you purchased it from, and no more than 16 ounces.
“We also have put into the plan and the proposal that we brought to the city commission to if say a street was to be closed down to extend that social district into the streets so like blueberry fest, close it down open that up to the social district so that people can walk freely within the festival with your social district drink,” commented Promotions Director Michael Bradford. Bradford noted that in the time that other U.P. counties have enacted social districts, local authorities have said there have been few incidents related to the social district.
“Talking with other police departments, we’ve been working closely with the police department here and they’ve taken it upon themselves to reach out to other police departments that currently have had this for a year or two, and to our surprise, almost zero incidents,” continued Bradford.
The State of Michigan currently has over 41 counties and 99 cities with an active social district. The social district in Marquette is still awaiting approval from the MLCC. The hours for the Social District in Marquette would be Monday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Local restaurants and pubs like “DIGS” are also looking forward to the social growth this can have on downtown Marquette. “They can enjoy themselves I think it’s one of those things some people were stressed about and other people weren’t but I think it’s one of those if mom and dad when their downtown and they wanna have a margarita to go from the city beach or you know like a beekeeper martini and their like hey can I get one of those to go or a beer and it’s like yep,” said Pat Digneit.
Click here for more information on the pending social district of downtown Marquette.
