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July 18, 2007

Beer, wine to be sold at Newport jazz, folk fests

NEWPORT -- George Wein and The Festival Network, the producers of the Dunkin’ Donuts Newport Folk Festival and the JVC Jazz Festival-Newport, announced today that for the first time since returning to the City by the Sea in 1981, beer and wine will be sold at the concerts at Fort Adams State Park.

The Open Air Café will serve the beverages along with “a classic New England coastal menu,” the producers said in a statement, on the west end of the boat basin at Fort Adams, where festival-goers will be able to drink while seeing the main stage as well as the fort and the harbor.

“Why should people be denied when at every public event, every ball game, they can get a beer?” Wein said today. “In the hot sun, it’s nice.”

Up until now, alcohol was unavailable at Fort Adams, and festival-goers’ bags and coolers were checked for alcohol, Wein said. He added that people have complained about the lack of opportunity to have a drink at the Newport festivals in the past, and he needs to use everything he can to bring people back.

“We have to work to get people there. Our festival is not what they call a hot festival,” Wein said, comparing the fort to rock venues such as the Tweeter Center. “We don’t play the people who draw the biggest crowds. … “It’s just time that we did this.”

The café will be supplied by Constellation Brands, which handles Corona beer and several brands of wine. “We won’t make money off the beer itself,” Wein said -- the festival gets the sponsorship money, and Constellation gets the alcohol proceeds.

Newport Councilwoman Kate Leonard said today that alcohol sales will be restricted to the tented café, and that festival patrons will still not be allowed to bring in their own alcohol. She said that the city and the state Department of Environmental Management, which runs Fort Adams, are still working on the details of policy.

More about the two festivals ...

-- Journal pop music writer Rick Massimo

Posted by Mike McKinney  at 5:28 PM | Permalink

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