The Demorest City Council is looking over amendments to their alcohol ordinance, as well as considering making the downtown Demorest area on Georgia Street an entertainment district. These amendments and districting changes could mean open-container carry for citizens attending Demorest’s events, new opportunities for local businesses and a less-dry Piedmont University.
The city has a history deeply rooted in the temperance and prohibition movements, founded in 1889 as a dry community and named after the prohibition leader William Jennings Demorest. But with updates coming to the Demorest Springs Park, the growth of Piedmont University and local businesses recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, changes could be coming to the city its founders wouldn’t have expected.
The amendments to the alcohol ordinance include allowing business owners who live outside of the City of Demorest, but within Habersham county, the opportunity to apply for an alcohol license. Currently, the city only allows Demorest citizens to apply for an alcohol license for their businesses, making the process much more restrictive than most cities.
Another amendment to the alcohol ordinance would allow businesses with alcohol licenses to serve alcohol off-premises with a permit. City Attorney Thomas Mitchell said at the city’s Tuesday work session that this amendment had been requested by the university. Piedmont has been a dry campus since its founding in 1897, with the exception of the Piedmont Village dorms that were built in 2015. The amendment would allow for alcohol to be served at special events on campus.
Making the downtown Demorest area on Georgia Street an entertainment district would encourage pedestrian traffic and patronage of local business, as well as allows for open-container alcoholic beverages within the area.
The council will meet again to discuss these amendments at their regular meeting on August 3.
