The Wake County Libertarian Party announced today their decision to move the site of their weekly Wednesday meetups to the three-month-old Oak & Dagger Public House at Seaboard Station in Raleigh.

“We’ve been actively looking for a new ‘unofficial HQ’ for several months,” stated WakeLP Chair Brian Lewis. “We wanted a place flexible enough to host both our informal meetups and special events when we have a guest speaker, and we wanted to be closer to downtown, but also have convenient parking. And we needed a place that could accommodate our growth, as average attendance at our meetups was up 75% in 2016. Oak & Dagger checks all those boxes.”

The WakeLP was galvanized into forming a relocation committee last summer after The Gourmet Factory, where the party had been meeting for the past several years, made the decision to let their liquor license lapse. Relocation committee spokesperson Ken Penkowski explained, “Libertarians are passionate about working to achieve our vision of freedom, peace, and prosperity for everyone, and many of us find the experience of being passionate to be considerably enhanced with the application of a moderate quantity of good beer. So that was a priority.”

Other potential venues considered included Clouds Brewing, Lynnwood Brewing Concern, Nickelpoint Brewery, and Trophy on Maywood. “Visiting all these places and sampling their brews was an exacting task, but someone had to do it,” added Penkowski. After holding meetups in each of the candidate sites, the party conducted an online poll on their website during the first couple of weeks in December. “We thought the citizens of Wake County might appreciate an election where there were more than two choices and all the candidates were great,” quipped Lewis.

The Oak & Dagger won the poll in a landslide, with 72% of the vote, and the decision was ratified by the WakeLP’s executive committee early Friday morning. 

Oak & Dagger Director of Operations Jamie McPeters welcomed the decision. “We are excited to host WakeLP meetups at the Oak & Dagger Public House. We built the brewpub to be a social place for people to gather from all walks of life and enjoy great beer and great food. Libertarians’ commitment to peaceful pursuit of their political objectives is renowned and they are welcome guests.”

For more information about the Oak & Dagger Public House, check out their website: http://www.oakanddagger.beer/#publichouse