Minnehaha County, SD Curfew Laws: Park Curfew (2026)

Section 21 of Ordinance MC8-85 puts the Park Board in charge of setting opening and closing times for Minnehaha County park areas, and those hours must be posted at the entrance to each facility. Outside those hours, no one is permitted in the park unless they hold a valid permit issued under Section 16, the ordinance's after-hours use permit. The Board also has standalone authority to close any part of a park to the public whenever it finds closure reasonably necessary, so long as notice of the closing is posted prominently; that closure power is separate from, and can be broader than, the routine daily hours.

Section 22 reinforces the after-hours closure with a vehicle rule: it is unlawful to park or leave a vehicle in any park after closing hours unless that use is also authorized by a Section 16 permit. Section 14 gives park employees authority to direct the parking and moving of vehicles in the parks generally, which extends to enforcing the after-hours vehicle rule on site. Because the closing times themselves are set administratively by the Board rather than fixed in the ordinance text, the specific closing hour for any given county park is whatever is posted at that park's entrance, not a single countywide clock; the ordinance's fixed rule is that presence without a permit during posted closed hours, or a Board-ordered closure, is unlawful regardless of what the clock says.