A sign on the corner of Third Street and West Hewitt Avenue in downtown Marquette shows the boundary of the new Marquette Social District that is slated to being in mid-June. Participating businesses in the district will be able to sell alcoholic beverages to customers who will then be able to consume their drinks legally in the social district commons area. (Journal photo by Randy Crouch)

MARQUETTE — Preparations are underway for downtown Marquette’s social district, which will allow licensed businesses to serve alcohol to customers who will then be able to consume their drinks in an approved common area in downtown Marquette.

The district is currently slated to begin operation in June and will encompass all of Third Street and portions of Baraga Avenue and Washington Street, as well as parts of Spring and Main streets.

“We are thinking it will be around mid-June. While we are approved at the state level, at the local level we are waiting for bars or restaurants to be approved,” said Marquette Downtown Development Authority Executive Director Tara Laase-McKinney. “We don’t want to have a rolling start to the social district where only a few businesses are able to participate, because that could lead to overwhelming them.”

A full list of participating businesses is yet to come, but Laase-McKinney says that at least 12 are on board or have shown serious interest in getting on board.

Marquette residents may have noticed signs popping up around the city that designate the borders of where the social district will be in operation.

“Right now the boundary signs are up so people know where to go and don’t leave (the district) with their drinks,” Laase-McKinney said. “In the next week or so, people will see other signs going up that will explain the rules and will lay out for everyone what responsibilities there are. There will also be some maps of the district going up but those will be a little less frequent.”

The concept of a social district isn’t entirely new to the area, as the city of Negaunee opened its own district in October.

Laase-McKinney says that a lot of research was done before the district got off the ground.

“We have talked to a ton of different social districts throughout the state, including Negaunee,” Laase-McKinney said. “We’ve talked to Muskegon, Grand Rapids and Petoskey quite a bit.”

The feedback from the other municipalities that have implemented similar projects has been generally positive.

“Quite a few of these places gave us a feel for their experiences. What worked, what didn’t work. What issues they had,” Laase-McKinney said. “Very few of them, if any, had issues and any issues they did have were pretty minor. Everybody that we have talked to made us think that this was a good decision.”

Randy Crouch can be reached at 906-228-2500 ext. 542. His email address is rcrouch@miningjournal.net.