Wheeling Village Board Approves Liquor License For Funeral Home
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A Wheeling funeral home might soon become the first in the state to serve alcohol at memorial services.
The Wheeling village board has approved creating a new liquor license allowing Kolssak Funeral Home to serve alcohol during funerals and wakes, as long as food also is served.
Owner Jon Kolssak said it would be the first time in Illinois that a funeral home has been given permission to serve alcoholic beverages.
"The climate is changing. They're wanting things different than it used to be. Life celebration has been a key word that has been kicked around in our industry for many years," he said. "Many years ago, picture boards were the talk of the town, where when you went to a visitation, you saw picture boards, and now it's commonplace, and it's required almost to be having videos of people. So what's to say what's the next level of service that we, as funeral directors, can provide to our families."
The Kolssak family has been looking for years for outside-the-box ways of serving the families of people who have died. Kolssak sees alcohol sales as taking it to the next level.
"It's not that we're here to get completely intoxicated at a family event, but we're there to have a wine, toast a glass," he said.
Kolssak said families would not be allowed to bring their own alcohol, however. The license would require all alcohol be served by a licensed caterer.
He said it's not uncommon for there to be uncommon tailgating, with alcohol, in the funeral home parking lot during Bears games. He said having a liquor license will make that easier to police.