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A social district in downtown Â鶹´«Ã½ is still expected to open mid-August, Sharon Jablonski, the city’s Cultural and Creative Development director, told the Â鶹´«Ã½ City council Monday evening. The city council approved the social district at its June meeting.

A social district in downtown Â鶹´«Ã½ will allow people to buy alcoholic drinks at participating businesses and carry and drink the beverage outside of the establishment within set boundaries.

Jablonski said the start date is dependent on when the city gets the signs for the district. She said signs have to be put up at every entrance area.

Jablonski said the official boundary signs for the district have been ordered and are in production. While she anticipates receiving the signs in about two weeks, Jablonski hopes it will be sooner, she said.

The district spans Sterling and Green streets from where the streets merge on either end of downtown. It also runs west to King Street and has areas covering blocks between Avery Avenue and East Union Street. The courthouse square and the alley off Sterling Street near Toasted and Rolled also will be included, The News Herald previously reported.

Businesses within the district that sell alcohol will be able to sell drinks that customers can carry outside. Businesses that do not sell alcohol will be able to choose if they went to allow people to come in with alcohol or not.

Jablonski said city staff recently held a training session for ABC-permitted businesses to review the rules, regulations and procedures for the social district.

Jablonski said registration forms have been sent out to eligible businesses, and restaurants and bars are starting to train employees on all the rules and regulations for the social district. Each business will have training videos for their staff, she said.

She said 12 ABC-permitted establishments and 12 retail establishments participated in the training, which is nearly all that signed up to participate in the district.

To ensure a smooth rollout, the city has already distributed registration forms as well as maintenance and operations plans to all downtown retailers for review, Jablonski said.

Jablonski said the next step in the process is installing window signs for participating businesses.

The social district will start at 10 a.m. and end at 10 p.m.

Participating businesses will have window signs showing if they are participating in the social district and to what extent. Those signs include:

• Beverages welcome
• Sold here and welcomed here
• Sold here and no outside beverage welcomed
• No beverages