this brewery is a few miles from me here in SC. It's a pretty unique place - literally a guys farm in the middle of no where. There really isn't a taproom and/or indoor seating, it's more of a big garage with 30 barrels of beer fermenting. Anyway, I follow Benford on teh facebook and he has been (rightfully) complaining that he can't open for consumption. I say righfully becase again, he has no indoor seating anyways, it's 100% outside, on a farm. Plenty of room to spread out. There is absolutely no reason I wouldn't feel safe walking up, getting a beer, and sitting down at a picnic table in the sun and enjoy the fresh air. Every time I've been there, it's really just me and my wife and maybe a couple other folks...never busy. Like I said - it really is in the middle of nowere. But, because he is a brewery afterall, he can't open. blanket rules and all that.
Now that SC has opened up retail (and for some reason included flea markets), Benford has found their loophole. They are hosting a flea market this weekend. They invited any and all businesses who don't have a physical store front to come up and set up a table on his farm. And, if people wanted to order a growler from his brewery while shopping, that's fine - he can sell growlers. He will probably have some music going too. I'd bet he would even give you some plastic cups if you wanted to pour beer from your growler into your plastic cup. And, if you were to bring your own lawn chair and people watch the good folks shoping, he won't chase you away.
Part of me wants to say "good for Benford for finding the loophole to get business going again!", but the rational part of me is really, really nervous about how many folks get teh Rona. While I would have no problem with Benford being open for the occasional beer enthesuiast, having a flea market sounds like a really, really bad idea.