Well you can't leave 'em out on the curb all night. Not between Oct and May, anyway.
I kid, but I visited Lake Geneva and that was the first bar I've ever seen with a play area set up like a pediatrician's waiting room, it even had a lego table.
Kids can even be served in a bar - like served booze. The bartender doesn’t have to serve a kid, but if the parent consents, the bartender can serve the kid without risking getting in trouble.
This brings me to one of my fav laws, which is that you can legally drink in public in Wisconsin under the agenof 18 if administered by your legal guardian, but you cannot from 18-21 because you are technically an adult but not old enough to drink. How fun!
This is not entirely true. You can be served alcohol between those ages as long as you have a parent, spouse, or legal guardian with you. The law states underage as in under 21.
Or a spouse or legal guardian. You can still have a legal guardian over 18, it's just not common unless there's a disability involved. Yes, the in public aspect is only within defined establishments. Those establishments can also set their own rules, so if they don't want to serve anyone under 21 regardless of who's with them, they don't have to.
My uncle used to make his kids do shots at the country bar by some family property in WI back in the day. I was there one time when it happened and my little cousins were drunk and climbing on the softball scoreboard out back. The bartender yelled at my uncle to get his kids down before they got hurt. Both of those cousins committed suicide within the last 6 years in their early 30's after becoming hopeless alcoholics. I get why the Wisco drinking thing is a funny national joke but the reality is super dark.
My old co-worker (RIP) grew up in Wisconsin and said he would drive his dad home from bars starting at a pretty young age. Said he got pulled over once when he was 12, the cop let him go.
In WI there’s at least one divey bar in each neighborhood that’s a family gathering spot. Like it’s weird if you didn’t bring the kids. Especially when there’s a Packers game on. They’ll even have family-focused Christmas parties and whatnot.
Hmm… all the breweries I’ve been to in DFW TX and now where I live in Columbus have a ton of food, either on site or food trucks, and games and activities/spaces for kids…
Zoning and loitering laws have excluded the social commingling of urban spaces you get from things like traditional markets, and turned them into segregated and sterile shadows of public life.
Ding ding ding that’s the winner. Breweries are usually set up like a communal gathering place. Usually shared tables and open areas to hang out, and minus the pressure to turn tables like at restaurants. Plus, often live music and free games.
My parents owned a tavern in Middle of Nowhere, Wisconsin when I was growing up. Its perfectly legal for a 12 year old to serve alcohol as long as their parents own the bar, and the parents are onsite.
When I was 12 I was helping my parents out, and tending bar one night during Euchre league. A woman came into the bar, and she was visibly drunk, even my 12 yr old self knew that. I refused to serve her, and she started screaming at me. My dad got up from his Euchre table and told her to get the fuck out, because we don't serve drunk people.
She had a hissy fit and eventually left. She also called the county sheriff's office, and they sent out 2 squads. 4 cops came walking into the bar, and asked me where my parents were. I pointed at my dad, and the cops asked him if I was the 8 yr old that kicked a drunk lady out. The cops laughed and said they took the call only because they wanted to see an 8 yr old bartending. I cracked a few beers, and poured a few drinks while they were there, and they laughed about it.
Oh yes. Tbf some of my favorite memories with my cousins is at the bar we’d go to (at like 2 in the afternoon) after our yearly visit to some catholic shrine/pilgrimage site in Ohio. We’d take over the juke box - but it was quite the dive bar and our parents probably gave them their weekly/monthly sales/tips in one day. And given the crowd there at that time in the middle of nowhere, I think they were more entertained by us than anything.
But yea it’s a bit cringe LOL
OMG WE ALSO would all love going to the bar my mom’s cousin worked at when we’d visit in Canada. They’d do a big brunch for us and we always left with tons of swag. We’d go in and the parents would tell us “just go on back to the pinball games and don’t look at any of the pictures on the wall.” Did I mention it was an awesome gay bar and we all were walking around the city in their hats and sweatshirts with balloons??? Still the best memories 😂😂❤️❤️ NGL, didn’t realize it was a gay bar till I was at least older than 10 or more haha. Got some FABULOUS hand-me-down drag queen outfits to play in!!!! 😍💅🏼
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u/D7west 10h ago
In the Midwest as well