Wilmington’s first social district is set to become a weekly event, following approval from city officials this week.

In September, the Wilmington City Council green-lighted a social district in the Brooklyn Arts District on the first and third Saturdays of each month from noon to 5 p.m. Earlier this month, area business owners formally asked the city to allow the district to happen weekly.

On Tuesday, the Wilmington City Council voted 5-2 to approve the weekly social district. Mayor pro tem Kevin Spears and council member Chakema Clinton-Quintana voted against the approval. The council voted unanimously to waive a second reading of the item.

Social districts allow people to buy an alcoholic drink at a participating establishment and consume it anywhere within a designated area. The social district in the Brooklyn Arts District spans 10 blocks along Fourth Street, from Walnut to North Front streets, and a block section of Red Cross Street, providing access to The Eagle's Dare.

The city’s Social District Advisory Committee considered a request from the Brooklyn Arts District Collective to expand the social district on April 1, according to Deputy City Manager Thom Morton, along with feedback from residents and city staff.

“The comments from the public, as well as the staff and members of the advisory committee, was that there were no known ill effects that would prevent the committee from recommending the extension of the social district from the first and third Saturdays to the weekly Saturdays, same time with the same other conditions of approval continuing,” Morton told council members.

City staff approved a six-month pilot period for the weekly social district, running from April through October, to allow the committee to “assess the impact of the social district, its interaction during the peak tourist season,” Morton said. 

Staff will provide a report to members of the city council toward the end of that period, and if there aren’t major problems, the weekly social district would automatically go into effect permanently, Morton added.

Tara English, the owner of Brooklyn Café and a lead organizer of the social district effort, said making the social district a weekly event will help reduce confusion among attendees and businesses.

“It just allows for general consistency,” she said on Wednesday. “The first and third Saturdays (model) was a very confusing way to offer this to the public and for the businesses.”

She also sees the weekly events as a way to provide more opportunities for businesses, local artists and vendors.

“From a community and business impact (aspect), I think that we're going to be able to offer more opportunity for independent artists to come out and be part of our events because we will end up having more events,” she said. “There'll be more opportunity for economic growth throughout the district. More jobs will be added, because, obviously, with a social district, it's a popular event.”

Morton said on Tuesday that the city hasn't had any other social district requests.

In Carolina Beach, Roger Monk, who owns The Tropical restaurant on the Carolina Beach Boardwalk, is spearheading an effort to establish a social district in the town. He gave a presentation to the Carolina Beach Town Council on the issue in February. Monk said Wednesday that he continues to work on the next steps to make a social district a reality.

While some other areas have expressed interest in a social district, English said, she believes the neighborhood needs to be the right fit.

For example, “the (Central Business District) is just not an area in which a social district needs to occur,” English said, “because you can walk out a door in 10 feet, you're at another establishment that has alcohol. In the Brooklyn Arts District, you can walk blocks before you step foot in another establishment that might have alcohol, and the whole purpose of the social district is to move people around freely.”

English and other business owners in the Brooklyn Arts District Collective have worked to establish a weekly social district in the area over the last year and a half. A pilot program took place in the neighborhood on three Saturdays in February 2025, and city council members adopted a framework for social districts and the advisory committee last summer.

“The businesses have come together in such a special way, and these are incredibly difficult changes to make in a city,” English said. “It's not an overnight process, and the fact that the businesses decided to come together from a very organized perspective, to help create and bring this to fruition, speaks volumes of the Brooklyn Arts District community as a whole.”