Wheeling expands alcohol sales to Heritage Park pavilion
Taking a page from Ravinia, Heritage Park in Wheeling will sell beer and wine at the new performance pavilion, where visitors will bring picnics to concerts and theater productions.
Heritage Park is expected to fully open later this month after a $38 million renovation. The park's sports complex has been up and running since last year, hosting local, regional and national softball tournaments with players of all ages.
Ahead of the summer season and Heritage Park's formal unveiling in June, village trustees on Monday night approved changes to the district's Heritage Park liquor license, expanding alcohol sales to the performance pavilion. Only beer and wine will be sold off a mobile cart during events. Movie screenings, Shakespeare productions and a summer concert series are in the works.
Trustees also relaxed several restrictions limiting beer sales at the concession stand in the sports complex, where 196 teams in 30 adult leagues played in 2014, the park district said.
Before, each customer could get only one beer during a transaction. At the park district's urging, the village board dropped the rule.
"We were losing attendees," Park and Recreation Services Director Matt Wehby told the board earlier this month.
Additionally, trustees extended beer sales by two more hours, from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. The park district originally requested to serve beer in a 12-hour window, from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., but Village President Dean Argiris said the start time should be closer to lunch.
Another change will let the park district sell beer no matter who's playing. Previously, the village barred sales when more than 50 percent of the baseball, softball and soccer fields were used by youth teams.
If you're 21 and older, you can't wander off in Heritage Park with alcohol. You must show an ID, wear a wristband and drink in the sports complex or pavilion's lawn, on the park's west side and just south of the park district's Community Recreation Center.
Heritage Park still isn't BYOB either.
Unlike the debate preceding the village's approval of beer sales in May 2014, Monday's vote was unanimous.