The Economic Geography of Regional Festivals

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Beer Drinking and Small Town Mississippi River Festivals

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, ethnic and city festivals became very popular in the U.S. The original goal of these festivals was either to stress the uniqueness of an area's ethnic makeup or of its economic traditions. Local pride was the prime stated emphasis of the festival. Examples include the Maifest, October-fest, Czech Days, Honey Days, William Tell Fest, Contraband Days, and so on. The aim was to promote an area by introducing visitors to the local customs, food and dance.

The festival's potential as a moneymaker for the area was recognized very quickly. Profits from festivals could be used to finance a variety of civic, humanitarian, or other causes. Almost all groups share a common desire to celebrate at these festivals, and they primarily use beer as the intoxicant of choice. In some areas of the country, the moneymaking at many festivals shifted, over time, to emphasize alcohol, primarily beer. Beer could be sold at inflated prices by civic groups and the money could be used to defray the cost of money-losing activities at the event. The beer came to be sold in beer gardens - a tent, or fenced-in pavilion.

In the early stages of these festivals, beer was sold in nearby taverns as well. Control of beer sales was loose; the festivals could not control the crowds they attracted and were forced to move the beer sales to areas that could be more easily policed. Even so, control became a problem. This should have led communities to make the obvious decision and drop alcohol sales from such events. Greed, however, has overruled common sense in most cases. Beer sales continue and so do the resultant behavioral problems.

The purpose of this article is to examine behavior at small town festivals on both sides of the Mississippi River border between Minnesota and Wisconsin. By selecting this area, we can compare differences in legal approaches to alcohol control. In Wisconsin, there has been a long history of lessened …