Cary Beer Garden

For the past month, a public debate has raged over the decision by the folks running Lazy Daze to add a beer garden to this year's event.

For the record, I am no stranger to beer gardens, Especially when they serve big ones like this picture. Sometimes a tall frosty one just hits the spot.

What dumbfounds me (among many other things) is the amount of media attention and citizen activism this issue has spawned. Hundreds of citizens are voicing strong opinions, mostly against having a beer garden at the festival. A few courageous beer lovers are fighting the good fight, despite being outnumbered at least 10-1. Read the last three editions of The Cary News to fully appreciate the public rancor over the infamous beer garden.

Read those same editions and you'll find a few pieces from citizens regarding Cary's exponential growth and the problems it has created with schools, roads and overall quality of life.

I have to wonder why people get so worked up over a few innocent beers served on one day in Cary, when EVERY day in Cary our roads and schools are jammed, and every month we hear about a new high-rise commercial complex being built amidst what was once a beautiful small town. By next year the beer garden will be a non-issue because there will be a 10-story mega-commercial complex occupying the space instead.

From Joe's warped perspective.... Imagine heavyweights like Anheuser-Busch and Miller came to town with lots of money to back their candidates for office. They build a beer garden on every corner in Cary, enticing beer-lovers from across the country to drive here for a cold one. The beer is cheap compared to where they come from, so they decide to stay. Martha Stewart decides to open up a Southern Drinking beer cafe, and the mayor shows up at the ribbon-cutting ceremony (then, back to Buschwood Country Club for the next fund-raiser). Now is when you scream "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore." Substitute Highwoods and Wakefield for the beer companies -- why can't we scream the same thing ?????

BTW, I think the beer garden is a bad idea.