Darlington County, SC Curfew Laws: Park Curfew (2026)

Section 54-70, adopted by Ord. No. 96-26 in August 1996, makes it unlawful for any person to enter, be, or remain in any county park during the period the park is closed, and requires the closing hours to be posted conspicuously so the public has notice that entry is unlawful. Subsection (1) fixes a default rule for parks without lights or nighttime-use facilities: those parks must be posted as open dawn to dusk, with a warning that unauthorized entry between dusk and dawn is unlawful and a violation.

Subsection (2) covers parks equipped with lights or nighttime-use facilities, where hours are instead set by the county parks and recreation commission, itself an eight-member body created under Chapter 38 with one appointee from each council district; county council retains ultimate authority to alter, revise, or amend any hours the commission sets, and those hours must likewise be posted with the unlawful-entry warning. The same 1996 ordinance also created Section 54-71, barring willful or negligent damage to county property such as parks equipment, and Section 54-72, which separately bans alcohol and illegal drug use in parks, so the curfew sits alongside a broader set of park-conduct rules enforced by the sheriff's office and code enforcement in unincorporated Darlington County.