It's not all Christmas cheer and family fun for the Little Big Market's ‘Tauranga's Christmas in the Park', with police opposing its licence to sell alcohol.

Before a District Licensing Committee hearing tomorrow, organisers of the annual charity event will look to iron out a compromise with police for an on-site special licence ahead of the December 20 event at Blake Park.

The 2013 edition of 'Tauranga's Christmas in the Park'. Photo: Tracy Hardy.

Since its inception in 2011, the event has held a liquor licence to promote local craft beer and wine in a separate bar area – both at the vacant site next to Zespri International and then at the existing Blake Park site.

During this time the event has grown in attendance from 3000 to 25,000, raising more than $40,000 in donations to local charities.

But it is the ever-increasing size of the bar area that concerns police.

'We are simply asking the committee if it's appropriate to have alcohol at a community family focussed event like that,” says Western Bay of Plenty Police alcohol harm reduction co-ordinator Sergeant Nigel McGlone.

Nigel is quick to add police are not opposing the event itself, just the alcohol component, with the majority of event goers under-18.

According to the proposal, organisers are looking to have an even bigger alcohol area – taking up a third of the entire area.

'Last year' event covered one football field, while this year they are looking at an area similar to Blues, Brews and Barbecues,” adds Nigel.

'On a gold coin donation to go in there you will have 15, 16 and 17-year-olds who will be going in and quite possibly be in that area unsupervised for quite some time.”

BOP Brewery Limited director Glen Meikle admits while there were no arrests last year, containing a large number of people in the bar area was a challenge.

He believes the on-site special licence is a vital part of the event, not just for tasting but because Little Big Markets does the event with no Tauranga City Council funding.

'I think last year we sold six kegs and there was 15-20,000 people,” says Glen. It's not about selling heaps of booze like a Booze, Blues and Barbecues. It's about showcasing our beers and wines.”

Glen says police are being really good about the issue, but their proposal for a small area at the back of the field seems a 'complete waste of time”.

'Their point is there is no alcohol at Christmas in the Park in Auckland and Wellington,” he adds. 'But the difference is they are 100 per cent financed by council and most people bring their own.

'We have always had a separate bar area which was undesignated which means anyone could go into it, but if you didn't want to then, hey, you didn't have to.”

Tauranga's Christmas in the Park is at Blake Park on December 20, from 2pm to 9.30pm.