People looking to snag alcohol on the way to a Thanksgiving gathering will discover that "blue laws" in Massachusetts block alcohol sales on Turkey Day. A bill has been proposed to change the laws. 

State Representative David Linsky has tried before and failed to change the law, but he continues to push for it. 

"Everyone forgets something sometime when you need to go to somebody's house for Thanksgiving," said Rep. Linsky. "Some merchants in Natick approached me like, 'Hey we are open, we have a beer and wine license, why can't we sell alcohol?" 

The bill is in committee, and Rep. Linsky hopes he may be able to get the law changed by next year. The bill also includes Christmas. 

Bill would make it optional for stores

"It's not the puritans and pilgrims fighting this right now. It's a combination of package store owners who don't want to have to be open, and supermarkets who aren't open on Thanksgiving anyways. My bill would actually make it optional for a store to open," said Rep. Linsky. "Alcohol laws are very complicated in Massachusetts. We are the state without happy hours, and it was only recently that we could purchase alcohol on Sundays." 

Liquor store owners say out-of-state customers are usually the ones who show up to their stores looking to buy alcohol on the holiday, only to discover they cannot. The same can be said for Massachusetts residents who just turned 21. 

"I was not no, so this is the first I am hearing of it," said Adrian Michael, a 21-year-old from Newton who was tasked with buying the alcohol for his family Thanksgiving party. "If I do my job right, we won't have to go out and buy day of. If people want to sell alcohol on Christmas and Thanksgiving, and they want to stay open, then we should support those business that do stay open." 

"We have tons of high volume the last few days with people just realizing they can't get it anywhere on Thursday," said Arpit Patel, owner of Oak n'Barrel liquor store in Newton. "A lot of people visit Massachusetts and have no idea we aren't open on Thanksgiving." 

Patel also owns a restaurant in town. That establishment is allowed to be open and serving alcohol on Thanksgiving, but his liquor store cannot. 

"[The laws] say, 'I am sorry, you can't sell alcohol, the devil's drink on Thanksgiving or Christmas,' so I said look, we are well past that," said Rep. Linsky.