TROY — In November Troy voters passed a new Designated Outdoor Refreshment Area (DORA). It went into effect the weekend of Thanksgiving and has had three weekends where people can buy alcoholic drinks and walk around downtown and go to other stores and businesses.
“We kind of started advertising it in conjunction with shop small Saturday,” Andrea Keller, Executive Director of Troy Main Street said. “It’s the holiday season, everybody’s shopping downtown and so we’ve been trying to encourage people to enjoy their DORA drinks, test it out, see how it goes.”
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In order to drink in the DORA people must buy a drink from a participating bar or restaurant and get them in a specially marked cup. The cups not only standout but will change to a bright orange when there’s a cold drink inside.
“The initial reaction from the businesses has been really good,” Keller said. “We haven’t had any issues so far. I know we’ve been keeping an eye on trash, trying to make sure that it’s not adding to the trash problem or anything. Overall it’s gone really well. People have enjoyed it and there were a lot of citizens that were excited it was in place.”
December might not be the time when many want to be outside walking around but Keller and many of the businesses are looking forward to the possibilities with warmer weather in spring and summer.
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“We don’t have anything specifically planned for the DORA but it will definitely be in effect during our events and we’ll definitely promote that and we’ll probably start to think about that coming up,” Keller said.
For those opposed to the DORA there were several concerns such as kids walking through the square from school, the number of alcoholic recovery programs in and around the DORA. Concerns about trash as well people abusing the system by refilling their own cups instead of buying a new drink.
Keller said through the first three weekends there haven’t been any issues. They’ve added additional trash cans as well to help cut down on potential trash.
The DORA runs Thursdays-Saturdays from noon to 10 p.m.
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