AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – Over the past several years, downtown Augusta has come alive.

To further the progress even more, discussions are taking place to create a Savannah-style entertainment district.

Current ordinances downtown don’t allow for open containers or bars to have outdoor seating, only restaurants. This means for the Augusta Pedal Pub, customers have to pour out their drink and wonder why.

“We get that question often,” said owner Charity Jones.

She says out of all of the Pedal Pub franchise locations, Augusta is the only one not allowed to drink in the pub, which confuses customers.

“(They say) I could go to this area to get that. Why don’t you guys do that for your areas? We just have to say, ‘No, we’re working on it and soon we will have it all worked out for everyone to be able to have that opportunity,’” said Jones.

The attempt to get this worked out is on for them.

One solution brought up with city leaders was to make an entertainment district downtown. This would be a defined area with different rules, allowing things like open containers.

“Everybody in this sector would benefit from it in a great way. We’re together and we speak loudly saying, ‘Yes, please work on that for us here in Augusta,’” said Jones.

This would make Garden City more competitive in the tourism market, too.

“We’re all competing cities across the state of Georgia,” said Margaret Woodard, executive director of the Downtown Development Authority. “Ever since the pandemic, people are looking for experiences. You can come downtown and you can go sit in a bar and have a drink or sit in a restaurant, have a drink or people are really looking for experiences. They want to find the interesting, quaint, eclectic things in downtown Augusta that aren’t in larger cities. We’ve got a beautiful climate. We’ve got beautiful historic structures in our downtown and what a great way then to be able to stroll the sidewalks in the evening hours or on Saturday and Sunday when there are events and be able to explore downtown Augusta.”

Woodard says the most comparable city is Savannah where she’s seen something like this work. Adding this downtown just makes sense.

“It’s the heart and soul of the city. It’s where the majority of the bars, restaurants, entertainment venues are the arena. The Bell, the Miller, the Imperial. It’s a very dense area where people come to experience an urban setting,” said Woodard.

The commission also authorized planning and development to revisit and draft a change to the alcohol ordinance. The plan is to present this in October.

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