For the second year in a row, Whitefish city officials have denied Great Northern Brewing Company a special permit, this time to hold a rail jam event during Winter Carnival.
The brewery planned to host a ski and snowboard rail jam in downtown after the Whitefish Winter Carnival’s Grand Parade on Feb. 7, but couldn’t come to agreeable terms with the city over requirements for extra insurance and indemnification.
Last year, the city denied a permit for the brewery’s popular Beer Barter and Talent Show over concerns of open containers and underage drinking during the Winter Carnival. This year, Great Northern Brewing Company’s general manager Marcus Duffey retooled to concept, but the city’s insurance requirements were too stringent, he said, making the event uninsurable.
The event was slated to take place in front of the brewery on Central Avenue in downtown Whitefish on Feb. 7.
The Beer Barter first took place in the late 1990s and was revived in 2011. In 2013, it attracted nearly 1,000 spectators who watched participants barter talents and items for a year’s supply of beer.
Duffey said he would not appeal the permit denial to the Whitefish City Council, as he did last year, but said the brewery is unfairly being placed in a “penalty box” and blamed for the raucous behavior of Winter Carnival revelers that is prevalent during the event-filled weekend.
After discussing the revised concept with Whitefish Police Chief Bill Dial, who was the first to raise concerns about the prevalence of open containers during and after previous events, Duffey said he was confident this year’s event, called Rail Jam on Railway, would be approved.
But Whitefish City Manager Chuck Stearns said the brewery’s proposed changes to an indemnification and insurance clause that city officials had also required last year limited the establishment’s risk and put too great an onus on taxpayers and the city of Whitefish.
“By the changes you proposed, you are attempting to limit your risk and exposure only to injury or property damage which occurs inside your closed area. We believe your responsibility, liability, and risk extends beyond the perimeter of your enclosure, especially with the risk of over-serving or drunk patrons,” Stearns wrote to Duffey in an email. “We don’t want the city to incur injury, damages, or liability by allowing your event unless you take all responsibility and liability away from the City. Taxpayers should not incur any costs or exposures because of your event.”
Duffey said the brewery applied for and was granted nine catering and evens permits last year, none of which resulted in a citation or incident, and said the rampant problem of open containers during Whitefish Winter Carnival is not the brewery’s fault alone. He said the brewery has demonstrated responsible conduct.
When he presented the city’s requisite indemnification and insurance agreement to the brewery’s insurance company, they would not agree to the coverage requirements, Duffey said.
“At this juncture, the City of Whitefish has put Great Northern Brewing Company in an inescapable penalty box,” Duffey said.