Occasionally there’s a local story that catches your eye or ear and sparks a rapid chain reaction of silent reasoning in your head, usually in five steps:
1.) What!?
2.) Huh?
3.) Really?
4.) Hmmm
5.) OK, makes sense
That was my process after reading a baiduhai story about Wheeling’s Kolssak Funeral Home recently being granted a village liquor license so it may provide adult beverages to family and friends of drinking age coming to mourn loved ones.
Immediately, I envisioned Wrigley Field beer vendors walking up and down the aisles hawking frosty drafts to funeral service attendees — Beer here! Ice cold Old Style beer! After getting the Saturday Night Live skit visual out of the way, I kept reading and thinking about how this is actually a pretty good idea.
No one wants to think about going to a funeral or suddenly having to arrange one. When the time comes though, more than a few would probably love the option of having a drink to “take the edge off” at a wake or post-service gathering in a separate room. For some, not even the most potent distilled spirit will dilute overwhelming sadness, but it makes sense to have drinks for the 21-and-over crowd available if the gathering is more about celebrating a life than mourning one’s passing.
The story goes on to say that according to the National Funeral Directors Association, providing liquor and food catering packages is part of a broader trend among funeral homes now offering receptions in conjunction with wakes or memorial services. The bottom line is that funeral homes, like all businesses, want to provide the best service for meeting their customers’ needs. If customers are asking about liquor being made available for guests paying their respects, then chalk it up as a business decision based on customer feedback.
So will more funeral homes be taking away business from local bars? It’s pretty safe to say that’s highly, highly, really highly doubtful. But I kind of like the beer vendor option for whenever my time comes in the hopefully far, far, really far distant future.
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Yo! Can I get an Old Style over here for a buddy in row 9?
Eric Scott is a freelance writer for the Pioneer Press
Twitter: @viberider18