Howard County, IN Curfew Laws: Park Curfew (2026)

Section 93.04 gives the County Park and Recreation Board 'the authority to specify the hours during which the county parks shall be open for use,' and those hours are set 'by resolution of the Park and Recreation Board' rather than fixed in the ordinance text. Once hours are designated, the rule is absolute: 'No person shall be present in the county parks at any time other than during those hours so specified.' The section builds in flexibility for organized activity, however, stating that 'nothing in this chapter shall be construed to prohibit the Park and Recreation Board from excepting from the operation of this provision any special use of park facilities by individuals or organizations,' so a group with an approved special use, such as an evening event authorized elsewhere in § 93.02, is not automatically locked out after hours.

Because the specific opening and closing times live in a Board resolution rather than in the printed code, a resident checking whether a park is open at a given hour needs the Board's current resolution, not the ordinance itself, though the underlying rule that presence outside posted hours is unlawful is fixed in § 93.04. The section carries the same penalty cross-reference as the rest of Chapter 93, 'Penalty, see § 10.99.'