Ephraim Says No to Wine and Liquor Sales

Aerial photo of Ephraim by Brett Kosmider.

After nearly a year of deliberation and many hours spent carefully crafting an ordinance with the village attorney, Ephraim’s board of trustees voted at its Tuesday meeting against issuing Class A liquor licenses. 

The license would have allowed the sale of wine and liquor for off-premise consumption, similar to retail stores such as Firefly and Top Shelf in Sister Bay, and Daughters & Co. in Egg Harbor. The proposed ordinance allowed for the issuance of no more than two such licenses.

Trustees Tim Nelson, Ken Nelson and Matt Meacham voted against the ordinance, and trustee Cindy Nelson and president Mike McCutcheon voted in favor. 

In making his case against the ordinance, Tim Nelson said that if the village adopted the ordinance, there’s “very little chance it would ever go away” if the board wasn’t happy with the decision later on. “It’s more likely future boards will say, ‘Let’s go to a license [for] every 100 people, or a flat 10 licenses,’” he said. “If everyone thinks liquor stores are a good idea, have at it. I don’t think liquor stores are a good idea.”

Ken Nelson said his primary concern was that if the village adopted the ordinance, the board would not be able to control it and prevent the opening of a large-scale package-liquor store. 

Cindy Nelson disagreed.

“I don’t think it will change Ephraim,” she said. “I believe we can control it.”

The proposal came forward when Monique McClean, owner of Pearl Wine Cottage on Church Street, sought to open an adjacent retail store to sell wine by the bottle for off-premise consumption. To do so under Wisconsin law, she needed to obtain a Class A liquor license, which would have allowed her to sell liquor for off-premise consumption as well because there is not a license in Wisconsin that allows for the off-premise sale of wine only. 

In a survey distributed by the board in May, 70% of residents approved of issuing Class A licenses.

The village was a dry town until 2016, when residents passed two referendum questions for the on-premise sale of beer and wine. The sale of beer passed 127-98, and the sale of wine passed 152-73. A 1932 referendum failed 78-54, and a 1992 referendum failed 141-50.