Dunn County includes wedding barn liquor law in legislative agenda
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
MENOMONIE — Dunn County is asking the state Legislature to take another look at a recently passed law that could adversely impact wedding barns.
When the Dunn County Board approved this year’s legislative agenda at the January 17 meeting, the agenda included a “request that the Legislature revisit 2023 changes made to the regulation of alcohol and wedding barns with an eye toward considering the impact and needs on the wedding barn industry.”
The Dunn County Legislative Committee discussed the changes in the state’s liquor law concerning wedding barns at the January 10 meeting.
The revised state law would limit agricultural-entertainment venues to only six events per year where alcohol is served, unless the venue obtained a tavern license.
The amendment to the state’s liquor law does not specifically name wedding barns or agricultural-entertainment venues (or agri-tourism or agricultural-tourism), but according to the definition of a “public place” included in the amendments to the law, wedding barns or agricultural-entertainment venues would be included.
A Google search for wedding barns in this area shows about 25 wedding barn venues in west central Wisconsin from the Minnesota border to a line running north to south from Ladysmith on the north to Osseo on the south.
A search for wedding barns statewide turned up nearly 100 results for wedding barns.
In an article published in 2018, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that the Wisconsin Agricultural Tourism Association stated Wisconsin had at least 150 event barns.
Governor Tony Evers signed the legislation that incorporated a variety of changes to the liquor law early in December of 2023.
The amendments to the state’s liquor law are 56 pages long.
Dunn County
During a Dunn County Board of Adjustment public hearing for a special exception requested by Timothy Stauffer of Knapp to operate an agricultural-entertainment venue in February of 2021, BOA members noted that previously-approved special exceptions had limited the venues to holding events three times per month.
The BOA did not set a limit on the number of events for Stauffer’s agricultural-entertainment venue.
One BOA member noted that at the time, Dunn County had four agricultural-entertainment venues. Stauffer’s agricultural-entertainment would have been the fifth, and in November of 2021, the BOA approved another agricultural-entertainment venue for Josh Edhlund of Doe-Z-Doe Therapy Farm, which is located just north of Knapp.
Dunn County has included agricultural-entertainment in the zoning ordinance because Dunn County is mostly rural and is mostly zoned agricultural.
Private vs. public
Tom Quinn, county board supervisor from Downing and a member of the legislative committee, asked about the changes to the law regarding wedding barns.
Jim Zons, county board supervisor from Colfax, a member of the legislative committee and chair of the Dunn County Community Resources and Tourism Committee, said he was aware of the changes in the liquor law.
Zons said he is a member of a wedding and event professionals group, and the group is “actively upset” about the changes to state law regarding wedding barns.
In previous state law, wedding barns were considered private venues.
Under the new state law, wedding barns are considered to be public places. Or rather, wedding barns, as well as other places rented out to the public, would be considered public places.
According to Wisconsin state statute 125.09(1)(b), “For purposes of par. (a), a public place includes a venue, location, open space, room, or establishment that is any of the following: 1. Accessible and available to the public to rent for an event or social gathering. 2. Held out for rent to the public for an event or social gathering. 3. Made available for rent to a member of the public for an event or social gathering.”
According to PracticePanther, an online legal dictionary, a public place is defined as “a location to which all of the public has access and is not a place exclusively used for a private gathering or any other personal purposes.”
No-sale event
The changes to the law also create what is termed a “no-sale event permit” for which wedding barns would have to apply to the state in order to hold events where alcohol is served.
The no-sale event permit, which allows people who have rented the venue to bring in their own alcoholic beverages and to have a licensed bartender operator serve the beverages, limits the venue to six one-day events per calendar year and no more than one event per month.
Limiting wedding barns to only six events per year “will pretty much put most of them out of business,” Zons said.
Revised law
According to the revised liquor law, if a wedding barn venue does not want to operate under a state-issued no-sale event permit, the venue can apply for a state-issued “Class B” liquor license, the same license under which a tavern operates.
Readers should note that state law makes a distinction between a Class “B” liquor license and “Class B” liquor license.
A Class “B” liquor license is issued for retail sales of fermented malt beverages to be consumed either on or off the premises.
Under state law, municipalities have a quota on how many “Class B” licenses can be issued, and the quota is determined by the number of residents.
According to a fact sheet from the Wisconsin Department of Revenue, “a municipality’s quota is the number of “Class B” liquor licenses granted or issued in good faith and in force on December 1, 1997, plus the number of reserve “Class B” liquor licenses the municipality is otherwise authorized to issue.”
Municipalities can obtain an additional reserve “Class B” liquor license if the population increases by 500.
If the municipality has a reserve “Class B” liquor license, the municipality is required by state law to charge $10,000 for the reserve liquor license.
According to an article published on the Wisconsin Public Radio website on December 7, 2023, wedding barn owners will have two years to decide if they want to apply for a no-sale event permit or a “Class B” liquor license.
Exemption
There are several conditions attached to the application for an exemption to the liquor license quota for event venues.
Readers should note that wedding barns/agricultural-entertainment venues are located in rural areas, and the township where the wedding barn is situated may not have any liquor licenses left to issue. Many wedding barn venues, if a “Class B” liquor license is desired, will have to qualify for the exemption.
Wedding barns can apply for a “Class B” liquor license as an exemption to the quota if the venue was in operation as of the date included in the state law [the date has not yet been determined], and if the venue has been in business for the preceding 12-month period before the application.
The owner of the venue applying for the “Class B” license must supply documentation to the state of Wisconsin showing that an exemption is required.
The owner of the venue must also apply for a “Class B” liquor license as an exemption no later than 60 days after the date included in the law [the date has not yet been determined].
In addition the state of Wisconsin cannot issue a “Class B” liquor license as an exemption for a public event venue after the first day of the seventh month of the effective date included in the law [date has not yet been determined].
If the state decides the deadline is December 5, 2025, for example, to decide whether to apply for a no-sale event permit or a “Class B” liquor license, then the deadline for “Class B” applications would be February 5, 2026. And then limit could be set that “Class B” liquor license could not be issued for an event venue after July 1, 2026.
If the deadline were to be set on December 5, 2025, to apply for a “Class B” license, then any agricultural-entertainment venues developed during 2025 would not qualify for the liquor license since they were not in operation for 12 months before the application, and apparently no agricultural-entertainment venues that start business operations after 2025 would be eligible for a “Class B” liquor license.
Changes in state law for reserve licenses could also impact wedding barns and could be a way for them to obtain a “Class B” license, although a reserve “Class B” license would require the venue to pay $10,000.
In previous state law, a municipality could make a request to another municipality that was contiguous with, or within two miles, to transfer a reserve “Class B” license.
The law has been changed to allow municipalities to request a reserve “Class B” license be transferred from any municipality located in whole or in part in the same county.
Rural Tourism
The changes in the state’s liquor law as it pertains to wedding barn venues will have a negative impact on rural tourism, Zons told the legislative committee.
The changes to the law were pushed through the Wisconsin Legislature quickly, and in addition to impacts on rural tourism, there will be impacts on economic development, he said.
Vaughn Hedlund, county board supervisor from Boyceville and a member of the legislative committee, asked if the state Legislature was aware that some rural municipalities may have no liquor licenses available that can be issued.
The Tavern League of Wisconsin wanted their interests protected, and the Tavern League has lobbyists, Zons said.
The wedding barn industry is not organized and does not have advocates in the way that the Tavern League does, he said.
According to information available on-line, Wisconsin has more than 2,700 taverns, compared to 865 in Minnesota; 1,316 in Michigan; nearly 2,800 in Illinois; and 871 in Iowa.
Although Wisconsin does not have a wedding barn association, those who are operating agricultural-entertainment venues can join the Wisconsin Agricultural Tourism Association.
Quick changes
The changes to the state law were passed in a day, Zons said.
Senator Jeff Smith (D-Eau Claire) (Senate District 31) was scheduled to speak to the wedding and event planners group, but instead of listening to their concerns to take back to the committee Senator Smith serves on, the senator was instead reacting to the fact that bill had passed the previous day, he said.
By the time Senator Smith spoke to the group, there was no longer any opportunity for modification to the proposed bill, Zons said.
The wedding barn owners are small business owners, and they are upset, because the new legislation could end their businesses, he said.
Legislative agenda
Kelly McCullough, county board supervisor from Menomonie and chair of the Dunn County Board, suggested adding a line to the legislative agenda asking the state Legislature to re-visit the legislation as it applies to wedding barns.
Gary Stene, county board supervisor from Colfax and chair of the legislative committee, noted that there are no limits on the number of temporary picnic licenses (temporary Class B) that municipalities can issue.
Stene, who also serves on the Colfax Village Board, noted that the Colfax Village Board issues a six-month picnic license to the Colfax Softball Association so the association does not have to keep coming back to the village board every time there is an event at the ball field.
State law allows municipalities to issue one six-month temporary license to qualifying groups in the course of a year.
Zons said he did not know if picnic licenses for wedding barns were addressed in the legislation.
The amendments to the state’s liquor law do not appear to address picnic licenses for public venues, which would include wedding barns.
Picnic licenses to serve alcohol on a temporary basis are only available under state law to non-profit organizations, established clubs, civic organizations, Chambers of Commerce, veterans’ organizations and churches, and are not available to for-profit ventures.
Bartender licensing
The legislation affects bartender licensing as well, Zons said.
The amendments to the state law allow bartenders to have a permit issued by the state that applies statewide instead of obtaining one bartender operator’s license for every municipality in which they work.
The amendments to the state liquor law also include changes for brewpubs, such as allowing brewpubs to sell, ship, transport or deliver up to 2,000 barrels of fermented malt beverages in any calendar year to retailers. Previously the law only allowed 1,000 barrels per year.
In addition, the amendments to the state law allow wineries with either a “Class C” license or a “Class B” license to stay open as late as a tavern with a “Class B” license.
The law states that the establishments with a “Class B” license cannot be open from 2 a.m. to 6 a.m.
The Dunn County Legislative Committee unanimously approved a motion to add the request that the state Legislature revisit the changes concerning wedding barns made to the liquor law in 2023.
The Dunn County Board meets next on February 21, beginning at 5:30 p.m. with a meet and greet with local state Legislators; a legislative agenda presentation to the state Legislators at 6 p.m.; and the regular monthly meeting of the Dunn County Board at 7 p.m.
