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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowIt took only a year after the Indiana Legislature passed a bill allowing designated outdoor refreshment areas, or DORAs, for communities around the state to jump on the bandwagon.
In central Indiana, Carmel, Noblesville, Shelbyville, Speedway, Westfield and Zionsville passed DORA ordinances for people ages 21 and over to purchase alcoholic beverages from participating bars, restaurants and vendors, and carry them outside and into other shops that allow drinks.
Existing open container laws do not prohibit people from carrying alcoholic beverages outside, but the new policy limits open consumption of alcoholic drinks in districts to those purchased at participating businesses.
Noblesville lobbied for a bill to allow DORA districts beginning in 2021. Gov. Eric Holcomb signed Senate Bill 20 last year, making Indiana the fifth state to allow DORAs—following North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia and Wisconsin.
The Indiana Alcohol and Tobacco Commission reviews DORA districts after city and town councils approve them.
Communities are allowed to create up to seven DORA districts, which can be permanent or temporary for events and festivals. Only Fort Wayne, with two, has created multiple districts so far.
The ATC has approved DORA districts for 25 Indiana communities—Bargersville, Batesville, Brookville, Fort Wayne, Greensburg, Griffith, Huntingburg, Jasper, Jeffersonville, Kirklin, Kokomo, Lafayette, Lawrenceburg, Logansport, Mishawaka, New Albany, Noblesville, Richmond, Roanoke, Shelbyville, Speedway, Warsaw, Westfield, Winona Lake and Yorktown.•
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