Mercer County, NJ Curfew Laws: Park Curfew (2026)

A. A. 21. The rules open with a standing notice that binds every county park and recreation area, from Mercer County Park in Hamilton and West Windsor to Baldpate Mountain in Hopewell: parks are open sunrise to sunset, 365 days a year, with no separate list of holiday closures or seasonal hours. The sunset closing time functions as the county's park curfew; the rules do not carve out later hours for athletic fields, boat ramps, or reserved picnic pavilions, though the boat-ramp section separately confirms ramps follow the same sunrise-to-sunset schedule whenever the lake is ice-free.

Anyone who stays in a park past closing falls under the Disorderly Persons section of the same rules, which bars loitering beyond posted park times and directs violators to leave promptly and peaceably when told to by a Park Commission agent or officer. Park Rangers patrol during open hours and can be reached at (609) 443-8956; the Mercer County Sheriff's Department, reachable at (609) 989-6111, backs up enforcement outside Ranger hours. A person cited for remaining in a park after sunset, or for any other rule violation, faces prosecution before a judge with jurisdiction and a fine of up to $1,000 at the judge's discretion, and the Commission can separately impose administrative restrictions such as barring the violator from park facilities.