Council Waives Alcohol Ban for Arts Center Opening Party

The Lancaster City Council has voted to grant the first exception to its no-alcohol policy for the city’s new performing arts center, permitting a private champagne and wine reception for theater donors at the center’s grand opening next month.

The 4-1 council decision Monday night brought cheers and jeers from people on opposing sides of the policy dispute. On June 3, in an unexpected action, the council voted 3 to 2 for the alcohol ban but also allowed for limited exceptions.

“We are glad they approved our request,” said Louis Bozigian, president of the private theater foundation that sought to permit drinks at its reception. “I think the general public feels it’s proper to have champagne and wine served at the theater.”

Bozigian’s group, the Lancaster Performing Arts Center Foundation, expects 200 to 250 to attend the Nov. 22 opening-night reception for those who have made special donations to the 758-seat theater. Henry Mancini and his orchestra will inaugurate the theater that night.

However, during Monday’s meeting, several people who supported the strict no-drinking policy lambasted the council for the exception. They especially criticized Mayor Henry Hearns and Councilman Arnie Rodio, two of the original alcohol ban supporters, who switched votes Monday.

“This council doesn’t even have their act together,” one man shouted after the meeting. He also called the decision a mockery.

“Nobody wants our city to be a bar,” said one woman, complaining that the council agenda mentioned only the reception but nothing about alcohol.

Hearns, a Baptist minister who continued to insist that he opposes drinking “in any kind of way,” said he considered his vote a onetime exception to the alcohol ban. But Hearns and Rodio also argued that they were forced to grant the exception because the foundation had met the city’s standard conditions.

Hearns originally had vowed to oppose any alcohol in the theater, but he said he changed his mind after meeting with Bozigian recently. Rodio had said all along that he would consider exceptions. Councilman George Theophanis, the third original supporter of the ban, cast the only vote against the exception.

The nonprofit foundation is an offshoot of the city government formed to raise money for the theater complex, which is expected to cost the city nearly $13 million. Bozigian, a former Lancaster mayor, said the group hopes that the council eventually will permit wine and champagne on a regular basis at the theater.