17th Street bars hit with D.C. liquor agency crackdown during High Heel Race
Investigators with the D.C. Alcoholic Beverage and Cannabis Administration (ABCA) created a stir during the annual LGBTQ Halloween High Heel Race on Tuesday night, Oct.
24, when they showed up at several bars and restaurants located along the two-block stretch of 17th Street, N.W. near Dupont Circle where the race and costume celebration took place.
According to observers attending the event, as thousands of spectators lined the street and sidewalks and capacity crowds filled the restaurants and bars, the ABCA investigators reportedly ordered some of the businesses to stop selling alcoholic beverages in their outdoor areas because they failed to prevent customers from carrying their drinks outside the establishments and onto the street and sidewalks.
An ABCA official told the Washington Blade that under D.C. law, bars, restaurants, and other businesses that sell and serve alcoholic beverages are required to prevent patrons from taking their drinks with alcohol off the premises of those businesses.
