Utah ushers in relaxed rules for bar patrons
SALT LAKE CITY -- Jeremy Kristic and friends pounded on the door at Oscar's bar Wednesday at 11 a.m. They wanted it to open immediately.
"This is the one day we can go out to experience all the different kinds of bars," said Kristic, 30, a private investigator.
Bartenders in Utah threw open their doors Wednesday as the state ditched a 40-year-old requirement that customers fill out an application, pay a fee and become a member of a private club before setting foot in a bar.
"It's 40 years of oppression come to an end," said Dave Morris, owner of the Piper Down in Salt Lake City. "There's this national perception that we don't have bars here."
To celebrate, Morris organized a 16-bar pub crawl. One crawl was set for Wednesday, another with a different lineup of bars was scheduled for Friday.
The new rules are an effort to boost the state's $7 billion-a-year tourism industry and make the state a little less quirky to outsiders.
The Mormon church has always helped shape alcohol policy, and the change to the law this year was no different. Only after consultation with church leaders and an agreement that DUI penalties would be stiffened, did lawmakers make progress on the changes.
