Gary, IN Curfew Laws: Park Curfew (2026)

Section 30-1 of the Gary Municipal Code, adopted by Ordinance No. 4705 in 1972, lists prohibited activities across the city's public parks and beaches. Subsection (a) is the hours rule: swimming is allowed only in the guarded portions of Marquette Park Beach, and only during the hours the city posts there; the lagoons inside Marquette Park are off-limits to swimmers at any hour; and pool use at any public park pool in Gary is likewise restricted to the hours posted at that pool. Section 30-2 backs this up on the beach side by tying lifeguard coverage to the season, staffing Marquette Beach from Memorial Day, and treating the park as officially open once parking fees are being collected at its lots, which is the practical marker for when the posted swim hours take effect.

The same section 30-1 addresses related park conduct: subsection (g) makes it unlawful to disobey a lifeguard's or wading-pool attendant's verbal order, and subsection (h) bars inflatable rafts, innertubes, air mattresses and similar pneumatic devices in the stretch of Lake Michigan north of Marquette Park or in any city-run pool. Enforcement runs through the department of public works and the lifeguard staff on site, and violations of Chapter 30 fall under the Code's general penalty at § 1-7, up to $2,500.00 for a first offense and up to $7,500.00 for a second or later offense.

Gary's code does not set a citywide curfew closing every park after dark; the only hours restriction in Chapter 30 is this swim-and-pool provision tied to posted signage.