To-go cups arrive for Paducah's EDC

The cups have now arrived.

“The EDC is set up, so we’re ready to go now,” Todd Blume, owner of Paducah Beer Werks, told The Sun. It’s one of the businesses participating in the EDC.

“The reason we haven’t been able to get the cups was supply issues, but I passed that on to Innovation Branding (House) — Robyn Shapiro, and she coordinated with all the restaurants downtown and got their orders, so we were able to save a little bit of money and all pool together.”

Blume is excited about the cups’ arrival, and shared that he took a beer from the business and walked to the riverfront on Thursday. He thinks the EDC is something that will help the entire downtown area.

“The customer can come in, and let’s say that they wanted to walk downtown or walk to the riverfront or walk anywhere within the EDC area, which is marked throughout the area — they would purchase a cup,” he said Friday.

“They purchase their beverage and then we would put the beverage into that cup and then they could carry it around with them. It’s a one-use cup. They won’t be able to walk into any other establishments with it because that would be bringing alcohol to another place, and so that’s not allowed, but they can walk around with it.”

Paducah’s EDC covers a large portion of the downtown area.

According to the city, the EDC stretches down Broadway from Fifth Street to the river and from Clark Street toward the convention center complex, but excludes residential areas in Lower Town. The map and participating businesses can be found online at paducahky.gov. Signs were also installed to help inform people of the boundaries. The hours of operation are 6 a.m. to midnight daily.

As reported earlier, customers can buy their to-go drinks from participating businesses, but alcohol purchased outside of the EDC is not allowed to be brought in. EDC cups can’t be refilled or brought into establishments, and customers need to properly dispose of the cups inside the EDC.

The Sun reached out to Paducah Police Chief Brian Laird on Friday, in regard to enforcement of the EDC boundaries.

“There’s laws that cover walking around with open alcoholic beverages or drinking alcoholic beverages in public,” Laird said.

“As far as controlling, you know — we’re not going to have people stationed along the boundaries or anything to prevent that. It’s kind of, I guess, on the honor system for the most part, but if somebody is observed in the outside of the area, they could be cited for that. They could receive a criminal citation for it.”

The city reports that 17 bars and restaurants are participating in the EDC, as of Friday.

“It’s so exciting that we can now take the Entertainment Destination Center and just turn it into reality,” Pam Spencer, the city’s communications manager, told The Sun.

Spencer reiterated that the work for the new EDC program was done earlier this year, and the city got state approval and the boundary signs up, but getting the program’s cups was a slow process. She thinks the EDC helps build the excitement of downtown because it’s a “new opportunity.”

“It allows folks to take a beverage with them after they’ve maybe had dinner and then they could go walk around and take a look at the businesses, and I think it just allows them to spend more time downtown,” she said.

“And if you’re spending more time, then you’re learning more about downtown, and seeing the wonderful businesses and the experience of being down there.”