MANASSAS — Customers at Manassas restaurants or breweries could leave the establishment with drinks in hand.
The city has applied for a local special events license that would allow for designated areas to be set up to where people could drink outside, near where they purchased their drink.
Those areas can include sidewalks, as well as businesses that are normally not allowed to sell alcohol. The drinks must be in a paper or plastic cup, with the logo of the establishment that sold it printed clearly on the cup to qualify, according to the legislation permitting.
The cost to the city for the special event’s license: $300, and the city is limited to using its permit 12 times per year.
Historic Manassas Director Debbie Haight said that, if approved by the state’s ABC Board in Richmond, the permit will be used for special events in Downtown Manassas to include St. Partick’s Day.
When the permit is used and the outdoor drinking space is set up, signs noting the area must be posted. However, the law championed by Senator Jeremy McPike (D-Prince William County) does not require physical barriers to be erected around the outdoor drinking area.
Haight hopes to secure the new permit in time for the city’s First Friday celebration on August 2.
