Ohio cities OK open-container districts

Associated Press

TOLEDO

It didn’t take long for a couple of Ohio cities to create outdoor refreshment areas where revelers can legally carry open containers of alcohol.

The city council in Toledo approved the idea this past week over the objections of some neighbors of the entertainment district near downtown.

Last month, council members in the southwest Ohio city of Middletown authorized an outdoor drinking district in a half-mile space downtown.

Ohio this past spring enacted a new law that allows municipalities to establish outdoor refreshment areas that are exempt from the state’s prohibition against consuming alcohol in public places.

The districts allow people to buy drinks in bars and restaurants and stroll outside with them.

The Toledo district has five taverns, and revelers will be able to carry their drinks in special cups sold for $1 each at those establishments.