In Tuesday's primary, the voters of West Lampeter Township will make a momentous decision on whether to lift the municipality's 74-year ban on alcohol sales.
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But while it occupies the electoral spotlight, West Lampeter has plenty of company in prohibiting liquor licenses, here and statewide. A dozen other municipalities in the county continue to be "dry" in some form, and many of them have been since the mid-1930s, after Prohibition ended.
However, while the remnants of Prohibition remain in hundreds of townships and boroughs across Pennsylvania, more municipalities — like West Lampeter — have either turned "wet" or are considering doing so as population growth and economic development push them in that direction.
Francesca Chapman, deputy press secretary of the state Liquor Control Board, said 688 municipalities — almost 27 percent of the state's total — prohibit retail sales of wine, spirits and beer.
However, as the dry communities tend to be smaller towns, they represent just 12 percent of the state's population, she explained.
Though some instituted bans later on, many of these townships and boroughs made the choice to stay dry when Prohibition was repealed, Chapman said. "[They] had to decide, 'Do we want to go with the rest of the nation, or do we like it dry?' "
In addition to West Lampeter, the other 12 county municipalities that are at least partially dry are Caernarvon, Colerain, Drumore, East Drumore, Eden, Fulton, Little Britain, Pequea, Providence, Strasburg and West Earl townships and Akron Borough. Pequea Township and Akron allow beer-only licenses for restaurants.
Over the years, some Pennsylvania municipalities that remained dry when Prohibition ended have since voted to go wet.
In 2007, there were 22 ballot referendums in 16 counties to add or prohibit some type of liquor license, Chapman said. The net result was 10 more became wet for some type of retail sales, she said.
During the last decade, said Nick Hays, press secretary for the LCB, only three previously wet municipalities have gone dry. In 1999, Washington Township in Greene County voted itself dry for both liquor and beer after having been wet for both, and in 2001, Curtin and Penn townships in Centre County voted themselves dry for liquor only after having been wet for both, he said.
According to the Liquor Control Board, there are at least eight townships and boroughs with alcohol-related referendums on the ballot this Tuesday. All are seeking to go wet.
The closest one is Warrington Township in York County. Like West Lampeter, it's asking for voter approval to sell retail liquor.
As Chapman explained, that permits the sale of wine, spirits and beer by the drink or six-pack and covers the spectrum of licenses that can sell all three, such as restaurants and hotels.
Population growth and economic development are possible factors driving the decision to overturn alcohol bans, she said.
West Lampeter Township follows that trend. According to 2007 census data, it has the fifth-most residents of Lancaster County's 60 municipalities, trailing only Lancaster city and Manheim, East Hempfield and Manor townships.
One of the five fastest-growing townships here in the 1990s, West Lampeter saw its population leap from 9,865 in 1990 to 15,429 in 2007 — an increase of more than 56 percent. The other dry municipalities in the county are much less populous, with the closest being West Earl at 7,569.
The effort to put the referendum question on the West Lampeter ballot arose from Willow Valley Resort & Conference Center's plans to spend $8 million on renovations, a project that would include converting half the property into a 184-room DoubleTree hotel.
Resort executives say they need to affiliate with a national chain such as DoubleTree to stay competitive. DoubleTree requires its locations to have restaurants that serve alcohol.
Sheryl Holzbauer, executive vice president of Willow Valley Associates, wouldn't make any predictions about Tuesday's vote but did say, "We've been really encouraged and humbled by the support we've received."
Holzbauer also said the level of opposition to the referendum isn't what she expected. "The community for the most part understands the challenges" Willow Valley faces in not serving alcohol, she said.
"We're at a big disadvantage" against competitors, Holzbauer said. "We see [the referendum] as our responsibility to protect jobs."
Dianne M. Berlin, a Penn Township resident who was involved in an unsuccessful effort 10 years ago to ban alcohol sales in Manheim Borough, said the negatives associated with alcohol are too big to ignore.
The 1999 referendum to turn Manheim dry, opposed by a coalition of borough businesses, was voted down by a 6-1 margin.
"I hope the West Lampeter people are not being pressured into this," said Berlin, who's also an anti-gambling activist.
"It would not enhance their community," she said. "If you're looking around for a place to live, you don't shop around for places where you're going to be close to a bar."
Staying dryThe 21st Amendment, which repealed Prohibition, gives states the right to restrict or ban the purchase or sale of alcohol; this has led to a patchwork of laws, in which alcohol may be legally sold in some but not all towns or counties within a particular state. Pennsylvania is one of 18 states with some control over the sale and distribution of alcoholic beverages, Chapman said.
Pennsylvania developed its state store system under Gov. Gifford Pinchot, who had supported Prohibition (see related story).
But while alcohol sales may come to West Lampeter, many of the other dry municipalities in Lancaster County are likely to stay that way for the foreseeable future.
Drumore, East Drumore, Fulton, Little Britain, Pequea, Providence and West Earl townships have had restrictions in place since the mid-1930s.
"The majority of people in this area don't want liquor" sales, said Anita Reed, vice president of the Southern Lancaster County Historical Society.
"Whenever you have liquor, you have problems," she said.
Local historian John W.W. Loose said he was unaware there were still 13 dry municipalities in Lancaster County. "I only knew of Little Britain and West Lampeter," he said.
When told they were mostly in the county's southern end, he attributed that to the area's religious influence and its Amish population.
As for West Lampeter, Loose noted that the alcohol prohibition there went into effect years before Willow Valley opened, and when the township's character was quite different than it is today.
"I'm surprised it hasn't happened before," Loose said of the campaign to lift the ban.
Paula Wolf is a staff writer for the Sunday News. She can be reached by e-mail at pwolf@lnpnews.com.
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