Cranberry Community Days to debut Craft Ale Garden
This year’s Community Days in Cranberry Township will offer something that has never been seen in the event’s history — alcohol on the premises.
Throughout all three days of the event, which runs Thursday, July 13, to Saturday, July 15, visitors can visit the Craft Ale Garden, a fenced-off, 10,000-square-foot section of Cranberry Township Community Park located near the amphitheater where live music acts will perform.
The Craft Ale Garden was the brainchild of Chris Williams and other members of the Cranberry Sunrise Rotary Club. Williams noticed that similar community fair events in Butler County both allowed and served alcohol while Cranberry’s did not.
“Zelienople's got their ‘Open Thursday,’ where people can grab beers and stuff and walk around,” Williams said. “Mars had a beer and wine event for several years. For some reason, Cranberry Township has never really had any sort of beer or alcohol or wine sales.”
After months of petitioning to the Cranberry Township Community Chest, the organizers of the Community Days event, the CTCC agreed to the allow the Craft Ale Garden at this year’s show. Full Pint Brewery, operated by Dan and Carrie Franklin, will not only operate the garden but also provide all of the alcohol.
“Full Pint is involved because we’re a local brewery to the area,” Dan Franklin said.
The Craft Ale Garden is the only adult-oriented event at Cranberry’s Community Days, with everything else — such as the volleyball tournament and the 5K Fun Run — suited for audiences of all ages.
According to Franklin and Williams, families are allowed to bring their children into the ale garden area, but there are safeguards in place to make sure that only adults are served alcohol.
“We are using wristbands so that we're not selling to people who are underage,” Franklin said. “We're getting IDs and giving out wristbands, and we’re only serving alcohol to those that have the wristband.”
In addition, people are not allowed to take alcohol out of the ale garden area; however, they will be allowed to bring food into the area.
Aside from Community Days and its associated events, the Cranberry Township Community Chest also coordinates volunteer and fundraising efforts across the township.
All proceeds from Community Days will support the Community Chest’s Project of the Year. This year, that project is the Armstrong Great Lawn, which aims to create a pedestrian friendly shared green space outside of the Cranberry Township Municipal Center on Rochester Road.
