Old Town Greenwood's DORA Is Approved for Every Day. So Why Does It Only Switch On for Events?

On a regular Tuesday evening, can you carry a SmockTown beer from Main Street to Craig Park? The answer depends on whether you go by the hours Greenwood approved or by the way the district actually runs right now.

Greenwood's city council approved a designated outdoor refreshment area that runs from noon to midnight, Monday through Sunday. The vote was 5-3 on Nov. 3, 2025, as the Daily Journal reported. Almost a year later, the district had its first public use at the Oct. 17 Old Town Greenwood Beer & Wine Fest. The Daily Journal's preview of that festival also carried one condition: until permanent street signs are installed, the DORA operates only on designated event dates, with temporary signs.

So the approved hours tell you what the district is designed to become. Right now, it turns on when there's an event and stays off the rest of the time.

Hours Built for Every Day

Greenwood's approved hours are some of the longest around. Council president Mike Campbell suggested matching Carmel's hours, which are 5 to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday. Council member Steve Moan proposed trimming weekday hours, but he never formally offered the amendment. The ordinance passed with no changes.

That leaves Greenwood with 12 hours on every day of the week. Carmel's weekday window is five. A Greenwood ordinance that allows a drink in hand at 1 p.m. on a Wednesday was clearly written for ordinary days.

During the debate, council member David Hopper asked Parks and Recreation Executive Director Rob Taggart whether noon to midnight covered the city's events. Taggart said it did. Council member Dave Lekse said the DORA already works as a pilot, and the council can amend the ordinance if it needs to. The full text is posted as Ordinance No. 25-26 in the city's document center.

The gap between approval and everyday use comes down to signs. As described in 2025, the boundary would be marked with red-colored signs at each point where you enter or leave the district. Without them, the line exists only on a map. That's why event dates, with organizers, temporary signs and staff explaining the rules, came first.

Where the Line Runs

Once the permanent signs go up, the district covers more ground than most people would guess. According to city documents described by the Daily Journal, it includes:

• Madison Avenue from Fry Road south to Smith Valley Road
• Market Plaza, where the boundary widens near Main Street
• South of Main Street, everything east to Washington Street
• Old City Park and Craig Park

The official version is the city's DORA Map Boundaries Exhibit A. The map also sets aside sites for temporary vendors along Euclid and Madison avenues, all of Old City Park, a parking lot inside Craig Park and the Greenwood Amphitheater area. City Controller Greg Wright named Freedom Fest, Final Fridays, WAMM Fest and the Our Lady of the Greenwood fair as the kinds of events where those vendors could set up. Most of the calendar Old Town already runs falls inside these lines.

Check the Door Sticker

Inside the boundary, each business and temporary vendor gets a colored sticker that tells you its policy.

All city-owned facilities in the district get red stickers or signs. On event days, the sticker is the quickest way to know whether you can walk into a shop with your cup. A Daily Journal photo from early October shows a DORA sticker already on the door at C&C Lounge.

Who Applied to Sell DORA Drinks

Getting a green sticker takes three approvals. A business applies to the city, the Board of Public Works and Safety reviews the request, and the Indiana Alcohol and Tobacco Commission gives final approval. The board reviews permanent permits every year. By November 2025, ten Old Town businesses had turned in completed applications:

Those were applications, not final approvals. The October coverage named Vino Villa, Planetary Brewing Co., Draft Day Pub, SmockTown Brewery and C&C Lounge among the businesses that had applied ahead of the festival. The color on the door is still the best guide.

The festival itself grew out of the same businesses. Vino Villa manager John Michael Jones told the Daily Journal he based the idea on a yearly wine festival in Switzerland County in southern Indiana. When he took it to Old Town Greenwood Inc., he learned that Rachel Matthews of SmockTown Brewery was planning something similar around beer, so the two teamed up. "This will be the first official DORA event, since we're still kind of getting everybody everything they need," Jones said in the Daily Journal's festival preview.

Cup Rules

The rules are the same on every DORA date, as reported by the Daily Journal:

1. No outside drinks. Alcohol has to be in an official DORA cup, which carries a sticker and a QR code.
2. Two drinks per person at a time.
3. Size limits are 16 ounces for beer or malt beverages, 12 ounces for wine, cider or hard seltzer, and 10 ounces for mixed drinks, which can hold no more than 2 ounces of liquor each.
4. Public intoxication is still a criminal offense inside the district.

The QR code on each cup links to more information. This is a summary of reported rules, not legal advice. For the exact requirements, check the ordinance or ask the city.

What the District Surrounds

Everyday use matters more because of what Greenwood is building inside these lines. Old Town is being rebuilt, and much of the new public space falls within the DORA boundary.

In July, the Greenwood Redevelopment Commission approved the $7.5 million Fieldhouse Plaza. It sits next to the Greenwood Fieldhouse at 411 S. Madison Ave., between Madison and South Meridian streets, and contractors were expected to start work in August. Plans include an event lawn, an open-air pavilion, large video screens, a splash pad, a fire pit and an ice rink in winter. City capital projects manager Kevin Steinmetz told the Daily Journal that the fieldhouse was built with accordion doors so it could open onto this outdoor space. The same project includes the long-planned Veterans Memorial Park across Surina Way, behind Greenwood Public Library. In late August, the parks board approved a Trekfit "Canyon Boulder" climbing wall for the plaza, at close to $250,000 and contingent on the 2027 budget. The board also approved a $60,876 contract for a new screen at the Greenwood Amphitheater. No opening date for the plaza or its rink has been announced.

Main Street is in for its own changes. The city's Main Street Segments 1 & 2 page lists waterline replacement between Meridian and Polk streets in 2026. In 2027 comes a rebuilt road, sidewalks or paths on both sides, decorative lighting, and storm and sanitary sewer work. That stretch includes SmockTown, Sip, Revery, Fresh Pots and Melao! Cuban Cafe, which opened at 211 W. Main St. in May.

The next event that could turn the district back on is the holiday season. The city's Holiday Drone Show page lists a Lighted Holiday Parade on Madison Avenue, a tree lighting at Folktale and a drone show over Old City Park, but the city's events listing also tells readers to "stay tuned" for 2026 details. The listing does not say whether the DORA will be active. So far, no date has been set for the permanent signs that would let the district run on its approved noon-to-midnight hours.

Living near Madison Avenue or Main Street means a district like this, plus a new plaza and a rebuilt street, will shape the blocks around your home. If you're wondering how those changes could affect your home's value, The Home Experts can walk you through it. Request a free market valuation and we'll look at your Old Town address with these projects in mind.