After alleged drinking violations, the Virginia Alcohol Beverage Control has threatened to revoke Foxfield Racing Association's liquor license at a hearing scheduled for early September.
If the hearing panel decides to revoke Foxfield's license, it may have little effect on alcohol consumption, as the racing association itself does not sell drinks, but rather allows patrons to supply their own.
Attracting thousands of University students each year, the annual spring steeplechase has come under heavy criticism for fostering excessive underage drinking and disorderly conduct, such as public urination and destruction of property, in addition to creating heavy traffic jams along Garth Road.
Although this will be Foxfield's first formal hearing, it has drawn past criticism from both ABC officials and Garth Road residents.
"Foxfield hasn't been heard [by a panel] before, but it received a written warning for the April 29, 2000 race for not maintaining peace and good order," said Becky Gettings, ABC director of public affairs.
Gettings declined to comment on specific Foxfield abuses until the panel hearing.
Foxfield has had "an ongoing conflict with the ABC," said Race Director W. Patrick Butterfield. "They say we're not maintaining good public order. In many instances students are just overindulging, and [ABC officials] are holding Foxfield accountable for the conduct of those people."
Albemarle County police made 52 arrests at the April, 2002, races after Foxfield officials requested help regulating the crowd, which swelled to around 25,000 spectators.
"This is the first year that there have been arrests, and they were at our request," Butterfield said. "And now, they're going to hold us accountable for them."
Butterfield called many of the arrests, which included gambling and expired car licenses, ridiculous and out of the control of Foxfield officials.
In an effort to appease the ABC and to quell problems with drinking, Foxfield officials also implemented mandatory wristbands for those of age and offered designated drivers complimentary entrance passes. Race officials also coordinated efforts with Albemarle County, as well as the University Student Council, Inter-Fraternity Council, Inter-Sorority Council and the Center for Alcohol and Substance Education.
"We have gone out of our way" to regulate behavior, Butterfield said. "We do all this stuff, and [ABC officials] don't' do anything. All they did was walk around with a camera and tape things, although I think they may have helped to detain some people."
Although area residents continued to complain about traffic problems and destruction of private property, Albemarle County officials commended Foxfield's attempts to address community concerns, County Spokeswoman Lee Catlin said.
"Anytime you have twenty-some thousand people using rural county roads to get to a large social event, you're just going to have those problems," Catlin said. Foxfield and County officials are "trying a lot of things to alleviate them, but it's very difficult . . . and continues to frustrate people"
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