The Jefferson County Board of Supervisors voted 2-1 Monday, June 15th to approve a liquor license for The Tipsy Travelers at this year’s Jefferson County Fair — reversing course from a denial issued just one week earlier — but with significant restrictions. Supervisors Susie Drish and Joe Ledger voted in favor, while Supervisor Lee Dimmitt cast the lone dissenting vote. The approval limits service to beer and seltzers only, with no mixed drinks or hard liquor permitted.
The reversal came after a full hearing Monday that included The Tipsy Travelers owner Megan Libe, Jefferson County Fair Board President Brent Pacha, and several fair board members — none of whom had been present at the original June 8th meeting where the license was first denied.
How We Got Here
The Jefferson County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to deny the liquor license at their June 8th meeting, with none of the parties involved in the application present to speak on its behalf. Neither the Jefferson County Fair board nor Megan Libe of The Tipsy Travelers attended that meeting, leaving supervisors without anyone to answer their questions or make a case for the application. Jefferson County Sheriff Bart Richmond had weighed in via email saying he had no issues with the application, but the absence of key stakeholders proved decisive.
Supervisor Susie Drish opened Monday’s meeting with an apology. “I’d like to start out by apologizing to the Fair Board,” she said. “I wish you guys would have been here, because we have so many questions. I’m so glad to see you here today.” Libe also acknowledged her absence at the previous meeting. “I’m sorry that I didn’t come either,” Libe said. “I’ve never been to a board meeting before — they just get approved. I’m so sorry guys, I never had to go.” Supervisor Joe Ledger also offered a direct apology to Pacha. “I want to apologize to you, Brent, because I talked to you before the meeting, and I really didn’t think it was necessary for you to be here,” Ledger said. “I apologize for that. You were unaware of it.”
Who Is The Tipsy Travelers?
Libe introduced herself and her business to the supervisors, explaining that The Tipsy Travelers has been operating since 2021, primarily serving weddings and public events out of a mobile horse trailer bar. “We basically get hired to do bar services at public events, or we do mostly weddings,” she said. “We pull the liquor license, we have the dram shop, and we bring the bar. We ID everybody, we put wristbands on, all that kind of stuff. We’ve never had any issues in the last five years.”
Libe noted that she had previously served at the Van Buren County Fair but found business slow enough that she does not plan to return. “The last county fair I did, we only did about not even $500 in sales, and that was at Van Buren — I probably won’t go back there because it wasn’t very busy,” she said. “But I’m hoping, I’m giving Jefferson County a chance. I’m hoping that it will be a good success.” She also noted that Washington County is allowing alcohol at their fair for the first time this year, though through a different vendor. “Washington County is doing a bar this year for the first time,” she said. “That is a new thing for them, because they wouldn’t allow it for the longest time.”
The Fair Board’s Case
Pacha explained the fair board’s reasoning for pursuing the arrangement in detail. He said the fair is at absolute maximum capacity this year — a good problem to have, but one that underscores the need for better infrastructure. “Our barns are at max capacity,” he said. “We actually had to go pick up a carport to add on to our sheep building because we are out of space. We are renting gates and stuff from Van Buren County just to complete the fair.”
Pacha said the buildings at the fairgrounds are aging well beyond their useful life and cannot be sustained much longer. “Those buildings were built back in the 50s, I believe, if not before then,” he said. “They have well out served their time and place and are at a point now where we cannot sustain fixing them. They are one heartbeat away from either being blown down or crushed from a snow load, and we’ve seen that happen before. In order to do that, we need money.”
Pacha was direct about the goal. “I would love it from a Fair Board perspective where every year I didn’t have to come and ask for $20,000,” he said. “I would love to have a profitable and sustainable fair. I would love to see that money being spent on our roads to improve them and things like that.”
He also addressed where the bar would be located — a point of confusion from the previous week, when a drawing suggested the bar would be positioned on the outside of the grandstand fence between the grandstands and the midway. Pacha clarified that the bar will be entirely within the fenced grandstand area. “Everything with this will all be tied in within the grandstand itself,” he said. “The grandstand is a fenced off, completed area where patrons will be able to purchase the alcohol, but they will not be able to leave with that alcohol. It will only be able to be purchased and consumed within that grandstand area, and that’s it.” He added that security would be posted at all exits to enforce the restriction, and that signage would reinforce the policy.
Libe confirmed the setup and added that everyone entering the grandstand area would be ID’d and wristbanded. She also noted her Dram Shop insurance coverage is $1 million. “I have no problem telling somebody they cannot have another drink,” she said. She also said she planned to serve lemonade shake-ups as a non-alcoholic option alongside the beer and seltzers.
Dimmitt Holds Firm
Supervisor Lee Dimmitt remained opposed throughout the meeting, acknowledging the fair board’s financial needs while maintaining that the county fair is not the appropriate setting for alcohol sales. “I appreciate the fact that it’s not on the outside of the grandstands, I guess, but it seems to me that we can have one family event where there doesn’t have to be alcohol,” he said.
Dimmitt also raised liability concerns, pointing to the busy intersection near the fairgrounds as a particular worry. “That intersection out there is a zoo,” he said. “People running across the highway because they park at Walmart — it’s just a fact. I’m not finding fault with anybody, it’s just a fact.” He said that while he appreciated Libe’s insurance coverage, he remained concerned about the county’s exposure. “I’ve been around the block long enough to know that the county is viewed as having deep pockets, and if something were to happen, while you may indemnify us, eventually we’re going to get sued. There’s just no way that’s not going to happen.”
Dimmitt distinguished between alcohol that happens to be present at the fairgrounds informally and alcohol that the county actively authorizes. “When I take my RV out to the campground, my son and daughter come out, they have a beer — I’m not naive here,” he said. “But there’s a difference between somebody doing something of their own free will as opposed to the county saying that we authorized this, that this is a good thing. Because when we allow it, from my perspective, it puts our stamp of approval on it.” He also said he had done informal polling at local businesses in the days since the first vote. “I kind of did a man-on-the-street interview at McDonald’s, Hy-Vee gas station, Walmart, just picking people at random — and overwhelmingly, they just didn’t think there was a need for it.”
When Libe offered to limit the service to beer and seltzers only and drop the liquor, Dimmitt said it would not change his position. “I just feel it’s a family event,” he said. “It’s just one venue that can be without it. I’ve said my piece.”
A Voice From Northeast Iowa
One of the more compelling arguments in favor came from Jefferson County Sanitarian Jerry Leonard, who drew on his experience growing up in northeast Iowa and watching what alcohol sales did for fairs in that region.
“I come from northeast Iowa,” Leonard said. “We have this little fair called the Jones County Fair. And if you imagine this, it was actually little at one time. But those guys have worked hard to build that fair. Alcohol was included in it. They built quite an establishment to serve that alcohol.” Leonard said Delaware County, where he grew up, eventually followed suit. “Today, both of those fairs bring major entertainment that brings 70,000 people to an event. In Jones County, you can’t find a parking spot unless you show up by 3 o’clock. It just starts rolling.”
Leonard said he did not see the kind of out-of-control behavior that critics fear. “People are drinking, but I don’t see people getting totally obnoxiously drunk and stupid,” he said. “Because people have scruples. They have morals. They know that they’re in a public event.” He framed the proposal as a modest first step. “In my mind, this is a building tool. Start out slow — putting our toe in the water — to see whether or not this could be a good thing down the road. To build that building that we need. We are the founding place of the Great State Fair. We should have a shining emblem out there that says that. I applaud you guys for wanting to do something outside the box, knowing that it could be good for us down the road.”
The $20,000-$30,000 Controversy
The meeting also addressed some confusion stemming from Ottumwa Radio’s original coverage of the June 8th meeting. Pacha said the publicity in the days that followed had caused his phone to ring constantly, expressing frustration over a figure that had circulated suggesting the fair board was hoping to generate $20,000 to $30,000 from the arrangement. Libe was equally taken aback. “I don’t even know that I get that much product,” she said. “That’s crazy.”
Ledger said he did not recall making that statement, though a community member present pointed out that he had been quoted saying it in the original article. Drish confirmed it, telling Ledger directly — “You said 20 to 30. You didn’t say 30 to 40.” Ledger apologized for the confusion.
Pacha was clear about the fair board’s actual expectations going into the arrangement. “I don’t have a clue what we’re going to make,” he said. “We haven’t done this before.”
A Look at Other Counties
Ledger said he had spent the week talking to people and researching how other counties handle alcohol at their fairs. “Davis County does not allow it,” he said. “Van Buren County tried one year, lost their butts, and that was the end of it. Washington County is going to try it this year. Henry County does because they already have a place set up. Wapello County — out at the fairgrounds where they have the races, it is allowed, but where they have the expo in town, it is not. So it’s about a wash.”
Drish also noted that the Iowa State Fair serves alcohol and that Wapello County allows it at their fairgrounds. A community member present added that at an Iowa County Fair Association meeting, it was noted that some county fairs would not be able to survive financially without alcohol sales. “I don’t know how many counties, but if they didn’t have a beer permit, they would not have a fair,” the resident said.
This Is Not the First Attempt
The discussion also surfaced a lesser-known piece of Jefferson County Fair history — the fair had previously attempted alcohol sales approximately four years ago when the Iowa Beer Bus parked next to the show arena. The experiment was widely considered a flop. “It wasn’t worth it,” one fair board member said. “I mean, they parked right next to the show arena — I think it was a flop because their beer was all foamy from being in transport.” Pacha noted he was not on the board at the time and acknowledged the setup then was far less controlled than what is being proposed now. “It was not in a more controlled environment than what we are now,” he said.
The Vote and What Comes Next
The path to a final vote was anything but straightforward. Drish made the initial motion to approve the license for one year with the full original menu — beer, seltzers, and hard liquor included. Ledger then amended the motion to restrict service to beer and seltzers only, wanting to cut out the hard liquor. However, when it was pointed out that seltzers themselves contain alcohol, Ledger was caught off guard. “I didn’t know that seltzers had liquor in them,” he said. “I don’t drink that.” He then amended his position further, proposing beer only. After more discussion, Ledger withdrew that amendment entirely, and the two ultimately settled on beer and seltzers with no mixed drinks or hard liquor. Drish moved to approve on those terms, Ledger seconded, and Dimmitt voted no.
Abbie DeKleine of the county auditor’s office, also noted during the discussion that the county does receive a portion of revenue from liquor license fees, with the state sending the county a check from the licensing cost. “She pays a cost into the state, and the state sends us a check,” DeKleine said. Pacha also noted that sales tax from the purchases would benefit the county as well.
Ledger acknowledged the difficulty of his position. “No matter what I do, I’m going to be on the list — whether I approve it or don’t approve it,” he said.
The Jefferson County Fair runs June 22nd through 29th, with The Tipsy Travelers set to serve beer and seltzers in the grandstand area during the pedal, truck, and tractor pull event on Friday, June 26th, and the quad races on Saturday, June 27th, weather permitting.
