SANDPOINT — Supporters of the CHAFE-150 filled Sandpoint’s City Council chambers to encourage the council to review the city’s open container law at City Beach.

Mariah Williams, race coordinator for CHAFE, had previously raised the issue of the ride’s future at City Beach at previous council meetings. She said that the ride will be displaced from City Beach due to Averill Hospitality’s 56 Bridge St. Hotel’s construction and asked the council to make changes to the city’s open container law so that beer and wine could be served at its after party at City Beach. 

"For more than a decade, we’ve had our check-in, start, finish and after-ride party on the lawn of the Best Western,” Williams said at the council’s Aug. 6 meeting. “With that redevelopment, we would like to move our after-ride activity to City Beach Park so that we can maintain that identity that we’ve had for the ride.”   

Over 13 people spoke during the meeting’s public comment portion in support of the CHAFE event, which raises money for literacy programs at the Lake Pend Oreille School District. Testimonies ranged from members of the Sandpoint Rotary Club to riders of the CHAFE to LPOSD superintendent, Dr. Becky Meyer. 

"This last school year that we just completed 189 students were saved, to be able to read before they graduate,” Meyer said. “With Rotary’s help and funded by the CHAFE, we think we can continue that and even help that number, hopefully, dwindle so less students need to be saved.” 

The council did not make any decisions at its Aug. 20 meeting, when they discussed potential changes to the open container code. However, a majority of the councilors expressed opposition to allowing alcohol to be served at City Beach, even for permitted events only. 

“I don’t think that people come for the beach experience, they are bike riders, they come for the routes and support stations,” Councilor Pam Duquette said at the Aug. 20 meeting. “It worries me about who could then have an activity down there.”  

WIlliams said that the City Beach location is paramount to the CHAFE’s identity and that riders who responded to a survey done by the event said that the location makes the ride. Bonner County resident Jim Mellen said he’s frequently ridden in CHAFE but would stop attending the ride if it was moved from City Beach. 

"We are certain that a move, even a temporary one, could start the downward trajectory of our ride,” Williams said. “We aren’t asking for special treatment, but a fair chance to demonstrate, as we have for 20 years, that we are excellent stewards of the City Beach space.” 

Sandpoint Mayor Jeremy Grimm clarified during the public comment that the city has no issue allowing the CHAFE to use the City Beach lawn as the location for the event. The council was concerned about a slippery slope because if it opens the open container code for CHAFE, any person could apply for permits and have an event with alcohol at City Beach. 

At the Aug. 20 meeting, Councilor Joel Aispuro said he had doubts that donations and riders would stop coming if there was no alcohol at the after-ride party. 

“I want to be careful that we don’t conflate, ‘Oh the CHAFE is done because the beach doesn’t allow alcohol’ that’s not our choice, that’s their choice to be clear,” Aispuro said at the Aug. 20 meeting. “They can still do the event there, if we don’t allow alcohol.”   

Ride coordinator for CHAFE, Megan Patterson said that alcohol is a sticking point for the event organizers. She suggested using restrictions similar to the Coeur d’Alene Farmers Market, that uses wristbands, disposable cups and more. 

Grimm told The Daily Bee that the council heard how important the ride is to the community and that he has asked city staff to look into creative solutions to the issue that can be brought before the council.

There was no item on the agenda concerning the open container law and as such, it was not discussed further by the council at Wednesday evening’s meeting. Williams said that the CHAFE committee needs to make a final decision on the route by the beginning or middle of November.