By Donica Phifer
For the first time on a Sunday, you can take your mother to drink alcohol at a restaurant in Oxford.
May 8 marks Mother’s Day, the first national holiday to fall on a Sunday since the Sunday alcohol sales law was passed by the city.
Matt Smith, junior hospitality management major, said he plans to go out and drink Sunday.
Although Smith is taking advantage of the new law, many restaurants on the Square, including the John Currence- owned Boure, City Grocery and Snackbar, will remained closed.
Currence’s fourth restaurant, Big Bad Breakfast, will be open but will not be serving alcohol.
Restaurants that are open on regular Sundays will remain so with the addition of alcoholic beverages to the menu.
“We’re not really going to bedoing anything different than on a normal day, but we are looking forward to the opportunity for people who want to have a drink to come in and have one,” said Rob Carpenter, general manager for South Depot Taco Shop.
Other businesses are following the same concept, opening for normal business hours but not preparing for large crowds.
“We aren’t expecting that much of a fluctuation because of alcohol sales,” said Ross Green, general manager for the Rib Cage.
Ward VI Alderman Brad Mayo said he had no expectations for Sunday sales, but that the current law was the result of a compromise.
“It’s not what everyone wanted,” Mayo said. “Some wanted Sunday sales every Sunday, and others didn’t want sales at all, but this is the compromise that we reached.”
The push for Sunday sales in Oxford began in February 2010, when Valentine’s Day fell on a Sunday and the Restaurant Association pushed for an exception to the no-Sunday sales law, Mayo said.
While the city granted the exception, the Mississippi State Tax Commission denied the request.
The summer months in Oxford brought campaigns and open forums for both sides of the Sunday sales issue.
“I just don’t agree with how they went about doing it by having special days or whatever,” Smith said. “I just think it’s all or nothing. I think it’s good for business owners in general.”
The Oxford Board of Aldermen passed the law Dec. 7, 2010, and it was approved by the state in January 2011.
With the adoption of the law, restaurants can now sell wine and liquor from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. On Sunday.
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