Welcome to 2016, Ephraim! In the early results of an April referendum, voters in the village of Ephraim in Door County, Wis., have decided to lift a longstanding ban on alcohol sales that made it the state's last dry municipality.
The village of about 300 had been dry ever since 1853 when it was founded by Norwgian Moravians. Its religious origins was the primary root of Ephraim's long-standing alcohol-free status, and despite efforts in 1934 and 1992, the village's zoning code ordinance made the sale, manufacture or distribution of alcohol or fermented malt beverages illegal.
This all came to an end on Tuesday after two referendums appeared on Tuesday's ballot. One would allow the sale of beer, a class B license, while the other would allow businesses to sell wide, a class C license.
Both referendums were passed, with Class B having a 127 to 98 vote and Class C having a 152 to 73 vote. Supporters argued that allowing alcohol trade will improve tourist trade, while opponents said it would tarnish the village's quaint feel and spurn village history.
These referendums were the results of the efforts of a group of business owners who banded together in January to submit two petitions asking to place referendum questions dealing with the sale of alcohol on the ballot. The referendum had a strong start, but it was imperiled in recent weeks when an Assembly bill, which would have turned the referendum from binding to advisory, was poised to be signed by Gov. Scott Walker (R-Wis).
It seeemed to have avoided this fate after the bill's authors agreed to hold the bill until after the election at the request of state Re. Joel Kitchens of Sturgeon Bay.
Two of the business owners behind the petitions, Hugh Mulliken and Fred Bridenhagen, say that they're quite happy with the passage of both referendums, noting that the only thing that will really change is that people will finally be able to have a drink with dinner - something that had kept people from staying and dining in Ephraim in the past.
However, village leaders suspect that not everyone in the village has this level of open-mindedness about the statute and is holding a village-wide seminar - going so far as expressing willingness to invie the Wisconsin Department of Revnue's Alcohol and Tobacco division to explain what it means for everyone.
"It is an end of an era," Ephraim Village President Michael McCutcheon said. "I will say the margins of the victory for both of the referendums, I think, were quite large."
