Franklin beer board approves alcohol permits for downtown events and new businesses

The City of Franklin Beer Board on April 8 approved beer permits for multiple annual events and for several new or changing downtown businesses, including contingent approvals for three venues waiting on certificates of occupancy.

Board members voted unanimously to approve special-event alcohol permits for Visit Franklin’s National Travel and Tourism Week community block party (May 8), the Franklin Rodeo (May 17), the Music City Grand Prix benefit for Saddle Up (May 31), Franklin Pride Festival (June 7), the Boys & Girls Club Wind Down Main Street (Nov. 1) and the Boys & Girls Club VIP/Main Square components. They also approved on-premises consumption permits for Kokomo Trading Company (ownership change at 158 Front Street), Hogwood Barbecue (600A Frasier Drive), Franklin Social (231 Public Square), Mission Cigar and Social (121 Third Avenue North) and Perrin 9 (94 East Main Street), with Franklin Social, Mission Cigar and Perrin 9 receiving contingent approvals pending certificates of occupancy.

The approvals affect downtown blocks and several regional venues where beer will be sold or distributed from temporary tents or established on-premises locations. Board members repeatedly emphasized that alcohol must remain inside defined permit areas. "We don't want to see it leaving the premise," Alderman Barnhill said during the Visit Franklin item, and applicants described perimeter staffing and permit-limited footprints to prevent off-site consumption.

Why it matters: Franklin’s approvals enable beverage sales at long-running community events that draw hundreds to thousands of visitors, and they clear the way for new…