Would you welcome minors at your shows if picture ID and a wristband were required to drink alcohol?

Let the kids party.

That’s what 54.5 per cent of people who took the Blueprint For A Fun City survey said about allowing nightclubs and other establishments to hold all-ages events where only those of age with wristbands would be served alcohol.

The study, commissioned by Blueprint for The Province, was conducted through Mustel Group’s randomly recruited web panel. The margin of error on the sample of 850 Metro Vancouver residents is +/-3.4 per cent at the 95-per-cent level of confidence. The problem: Young adults 18-and-under weren’t included in the sample.

To talk about the pros and cons of all-ages wristband events, currently outlawed by the B.C. Liquor Control and Licensing Board, we convened a sample panel made up of six people on either side of the age of majority one Saturday morning at the Elbow Room on Davie Street.

University of B.C. arts student Max Miller said that since he turned 19, he’s kept busy playing catchup on club gigs.

“I go to a lot of concerts at the Rickshaw, Biltmore, Commodore and other funky little clubs now,” he says. “Until I could get into licensed venues, it was really frustrating.

“I like a lot of underground artists who rarely play at the Orpheum, Vogue or arenas. So I just didn’t go out much, as it was hard to find something I wanted and could afford.”

A table of nods accompanies the last point. Without a doubt, the $50-or-more cheap seats for an arena show are a major impediment to youth revelry, compared to a $10 ticket to an indie rock cabaret.

“Music is what it’s all about for me and if I hear a group I like is playing, that’s where I’m at,” said 19-year-old Langara College student Francesca Drake. “Before being old enough to get into venues, we certainly had our sushi restaurant where we would all hang out, and fortunately there were free all-ages opportunities to catch artists like Mother Mother and Dan Mangan.

“But on a Wednesday night when your favourite group is playing and you can’t get in, life is pretty bleak.”

Drake says entry to 19-plus venues is a “ticket to freedom” that “still feels a bit odd.” She wishes she could have gotten into venues earlier, but wonders if the whole rite of passage would be lost.

Underage Kitsilano Secondary student Aynsley Hamilton isn’t willing to stand on ceremony.

“It’s totally restricting not being able to go to events because of liquor,” the 17-year-old says.

Despite public support for wristband events where alcohol is served, the provincial government took steps in the opposite direction when it began the process of clamping down on dry all-ages parties in November 2012.

At the time, LCLB had received 740 applications from bars and clubs to temporarily de-license in order to stage all-ages parties -- up from 511 filed five years earlier.

On the streets, police, LCLB, parents and schools had noticed issues with public safety and enforcement around venues essentially continuing to operate as nightclubs with a younger clientele.

“Minors attending these events have been found to be consuming liquor either prior to entering or outside the establishment during the course of the event,” according to a memo released by Assistant Deputy Minister Karen Ayers.

As a result, on Jan. 15, LCLB began allowing temporary de-licensing only if an establishment that primarily serves liquor holds an event that isn’t “reflective of the primary business establishment.” For example, a nightclub throwing a chess tournament would likely pass the test.

Also, establishments that want to go forward with temporary de-licensing can do so but only up to six times per year.

Blueprint principal Alvaro Prol, whose company has been promoting all-ages events for the past 16 years, supports the measures put in place earlier this year.

“Wristbands and all-ages events is not something that we do now at any of our venues, and we presently support the position of (government) on this as it stands in regards to safety, policing, and so on,” Blueprint principal Alvaro Prol says. “However, if something was in place for ticketed shows, acts and concerts, then we would certainly be in favour of it and would hope to see that develop under the right conditions.

Developing that all-ages audience has always been on the radar for Blueprint.

“We have been hosting all-ages parties from the moment this company began,” Prol says. “We want kids to be able to have a great time in a safe environment enjoying the emerging new music that they want to hear with their friends -- for example, an act such as Nervo who plays at our #BPSweet16 event at the Pacific Coliseum on Oct. 13.”

There’s no guarantee the Piper siblings, Katie, 19, and Hayley, 16, will be there.

“I can’t wait to do the club thing when I’m old enough, because it might be weird at my age and I’m not positive I want to hang out with my sister,” says Windermere Secondary student Hayley. “However, it plain sucks when you can’t go see a concert by a band you like such as MGMT because of the venue it’s at.”

“Hanging out in the same place as my sister or people I just graduated from is potentially a bit awkward, I think,” says Douglas College science student Katie. “OK, I suppose if we were at different places it would be fine. Because I do know that before we could go to the less expensive places for concerts, we went to a lot of expensive concerts. And that’s never good.”