DEFIANCE, Ohio — Less than a month after being approved, the Defiance community says their new Designed Outdoor Refreshment Area is already a hit.
A few weeks ago, the city of Defiance approved their own DORA, which had already been put in place in Toledo and other cities in northwest Ohio.
It is one of the largest in the region, ranging 96 acres of all of downtown Defiance, neighboring roads and even the historic Fort Defiance area.
This last weekend, the DORA was considered to have been a great advantage to the third annual Buskerfest.
On the first weekend people were allowed to have alcoholic beverages in a designated area, 1,000 DORA cups were sold.
Another unique addition is that the Defiance DORA allows downtown businesses that don't serve alcohol to either opt in or out of letting drinkers with designated refreshment cups to enter their business with an alcoholic drink.
It's a strategy used to incite cooperation between local businesses to help the downtown area as a whole.
"A couple of businesses downtown are looking to really take advantage of that opportunity. We gave different scenarios when we talked to them. And it's professional services business as well, we said there could be an opportunity here to to have some basic conversation with a potential new client," said Kirstie Mack, executive director of the Defiance Development and Visitors Bureau
The next event to take advantage of the new DORA is the upcoming First Friday Cruise In. taking place Friday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. in downtown Defiance.