Concerns are evident when the topic of Second Saturdays comes up. City Manager Pete Dillard emphasized at this week’s city council meeting that the downtown festival’s inaugural event in March will be a test. 

When The Observer posted our report on the council meeting to our website, we received 14 comments via Facebook. Only one was clearly in favor. Several said they expected boorish drunks and one said there would be a lot of litter.

We see plenty of reasons for their concerns, but in the end, we think it’s going to work out OK.

Second Saturdays is based on a similar downtown event in Thomasville called First Fridays. The city brings in a band to perform in a downtown venue. Local shops stay open late. Participants may eat at a restaurant, stroll through downtown or sit and listen to the music.

The concerns swirl around how alcohol is treated.

Alcohol is served in downtown restaurants. Under Moultrie’s alcohol ordinance, patrons cannot take the alcohol out of the restaurant. On Tuesday, the city council voted to make an exception for Second Saturdays.

Alcohol is the only real difference between Second Saturdays and Music Under the Magnolia, a downtown music event that’s been held for years. If you’re at Music Under the Magnolia and want a drink, you’d have to go to an open restaurant, buy the beer or wine, finish it and then come back to the concert. At Second Saturdays, you’d be able to buy the drink at the restaurant and bring it back to the concert with you.

Dillard said the city planned to have controls in place to prevent some of the issues that have already been raised. We’ll have coverage of the details of those plans closer to the event, but he’s already said they’ll include a wristband to help servers determine who’s old enough to drink alcohol. We have no doubt both uniformed and plainclothes police will be on duty, just as they are during other downtown events.

A lot of thought has gone into how to make this a safe and fun event for all participants. As long as the participants behave responsibly, we know it will be a success. But we also believe the city has a plan in case the participants do not behave responsibly.

On March 14, we’ll see if we’re right.