Last call for dry towns? New York weighs lifting post-Prohibition law that let towns keep booze bans

ALBANY, N.Y. — New York towns and villages that have post-Prohibition bans on alcohol sales would be forced to lift such restrictions under a bill moving through the Legislature. We live in New York in 2024, and this thing is kind of silly,” said state Sen. James Skoufis, a Democrat who chairs a legislative committee that most of the state alcohol laws pass through. In Lapeer, a town of roughly 800 people about 50 miles south of Syracuse, most people buy their alcohol in the nearest town, according to Cindy Butler McFarland, Lapeer’s town clerk. McFarland, who grew up in Lapeer, said that even if the bill becomes law, she doesn’t think anyone would open a bar, restaurant or store in Lapeer that could sell alcohol because there’s a grocery store in the next town. “A lot of people have talked about how they wish Orwell wasn’t a dry town because it would be one more spot to put a little pub or bar.” Argyle, a town of about 3,500 roughly 50 miles north of Albany, voted to remove its dry status in 2019.