NEWS

2 Williamson cities will vote on wine in grocery stores

Bonnie Burch
bburch@tennessean.com

Two more Williamson County municipalities may have bottles of chardonnay and merlot for sale among the cantaloupes and cereal boxes in local retail food stores.

Brentwood and Thompson’s Station gathered enough valid signatures from residents to put a wine-in-grocery-stores question on the November ballot, according to Red White and Food, a coalition of 30,000-plus Tennessee residents who want to purchase wine where they shop for food.

To get the wine referendum on the ballot, communities that already allow liquor by the drink, liquor stores or both must submit petitions to the local election commission with at least as many signatures equaling 10 percent of their residents who voted in the last gubernatorial election.

The Williamson County Election Commission has already validated the signatures on Fairview and Spring Hill petitions to allow wine to be sold in grocery stores.

To make sure Franklin follows suit, Guyla Dodd and Deborah Shertz set up a tent at the Franklin Recreation Center on Hillsboro Road during the Aug. 7 primary to get Franklin voters to sign the petition.

“I’m not a big wine drinker,” Dodd said. “But I want to give people the convenience to buy wine where they purchase their groceries.”

The petitions must be submitted by Aug. 21.

To date, 37 communities statewide have collected the required number of signatures needed to allow registered voters to decide where wine will be sold, including Lebanon, Gallatin and Hendersonville. Signatures haven’t yet been submitted from Davidson County residents.

Reach Bonnie Burch at 615-771-5421 and on Twitter @BonnieBurch_WAM.