Boise Mayor Lauren McLean broke a 3-3 City Council tie Tuesday, approving a one-year pilot for liquor sales at special public events in some city parks and recreation facilities.
The ordinance was first proposed last year, after some event organizers, namely, Treefort Music Festival, asked the city to change its laws prohibiting liquor by-the-drink in public parks. Council members and city staff went through several rounds of changes before landing on the proposal accepted Tuesday, which adds liquor sales at city parks and facilities where beer and wine sales at events is already allowed by permit.
It requires organizers follow all applicable state liquor laws, and prohibits drinks from being served in alcohol-branded cups. It also specifically excludes liquor sales from events at Cecil D. Andrus Park, across the street from the Idaho Capitol.
City Council President Colin Nash said previously the exclusion was related to the park’s location, and not any specific event held at the park.
Boise Pride has held its annual celebration in Cecil D. Andrus each June, but has grown to the point of possibly needing to relocate to a larger venue, Nash said in December.
The permitting process for liquor sales will be folded into Boise’s existing event approval process. Nash, who worked on the ordinance, said he’d push to add additional requirements if it is renewed into 2026. For the pilot year, Nash wants the city’s special events committee to encourage organizers to ensure they have properly-certified servers, and to work with an established liquor license-holder for events.
“Making sure that we’re pushing special event sponsors to adopt best practices that will lead to cooperative relationships with Boise Police and keep our community safe and able to enjoy themselves responsibly,” Nash said.
Those recommendations came from BPD and event organizers themselves.
Boise Police and city parks officials are generally supportive of allowing liquor sales at special events, according to an internal city memo, but moving forward on the ordinance without a public hearing or hearing publicly from police and other stakeholders didn’t sit well with Council member Lucy Willits, who voted no. She had hoped for a different conversation entirely.
“Instead, we had a solution to festival profitability given to us, and not the real conversation, which should have been, ‘how do we support these festivals’,” she said.
Nash clarified that public hearings would be part of any process in allowing liquor sales long-term at events. The new ordinance expires January 1, 2026, and will be revisited by the council, likely this fall so that any decision to continue allowing liquor sales would be ahead of the current expiration date.
Concerns of overconsumption potentially leading to disruptive behavior, damage and conflicts in the shared space of city parks was one reason Council member Jordan Morales joined Willits to vote no on the proposal. Council member Kathy Corless also voted no, but made no comments during the vote. Mayor McLean also did not make specific comments after breaking the tie in favor of the ordinance.
