New Florence cheers as voters OK alcohol sales

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New Florence cheers as voters OK alcohol sales

Rich Cholodofsky | Tuesday, May 20, 2025 10:00 p.m.

Kristina Serafini | TribLive

Owner Becky Richey works on a lunch order inside her shop, C&T’s Pizza, on Ligonier Street in New Florence on May 16. Richey, who has owned the business for 25 years, helped organize and lobby for a referendum on Tuesday’s ballot to allow alcohol sales in the small borough. New Florence is one of four dry towns in Westmoreland County.

New Florence residents voted Tuesday to approve alcohol sales in the borough.

According to unofficial results, 64% of residents voted in favor of a referendum to reverse laws from the 1930s that banned beer and liquor sales in the small borough of 640.

New Florence council President Jason Beatty, one of the organizers of the campaign, toasted the outcome. About a quarter of the town’s registered voters weighed in on the ballot question.

“It’s pretty exciting. This has been a long time coming. We’ve tried this before and we finally did it,” Beatty said.

Beatty, along with co-organizer Becky Richey, owner of C&T’s Pizza, one of two restaurants in town, celebrated the apparent victory with drinks at the New Florence Veterans of Foreign War post in neighboring Seward.

Richey said New Florence’s status of being just one of four dry communities in Westmoreland County left her small business unable to compete with other nearby eateries across the borough’s border.

“It’s crazy. I thought it (the vote) would be close, but you never know. We will definitely be doing this (drinking) at our place next year. Now, we’ve got to find a (liquor) license,” Richey said.

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