Drive continues to sell alcohol in Wilton →
WILTON — Like grapes ripening in a vineyard, support continues to grow to put the issue of selling alcohol in package stores in town on the Nov. 3 ballot….
In 1992, Wilton voters went against almost 200 years of temperance voting — with the notable exception of favoring the repeal of the alcohol-prohibiting 18th Amendment in 1933 — to allow alcohol sales in restaurants.
A town vote made Wilton “dry” a year after Prohibition was repealed nationally, and efforts were made to make Wilton “wet” went for naught in 1953, 1977, 1983 and 1987. A 1968 provision allowed sales of alcohol only at golf and country clubs.
I grew up in a “dry” town. Yep, those actually exist. Actually, it’s technically been a “damp” town since 1992, when alcohol was finally allowed in restaurants. But there are still no liquor stores (that’s what a “package store” or “packy” is, for you non-New Englanders). Meanwhile, Wilton has a huge underage drinking problem. So you can see how effective Puritanism is.
