Thurston County, WA Curfew Laws: Park Curfew (2026)

Thurston County Code Chapter 10.76, the county's Park Code, defines a 'county park' broadly: any area under the management or control of the Board of County Commissioners, covering parks, squares, drives, parkways, trails, beaches, playgrounds and other recreational facilities in the county's park and recreation system (§ 10.76.030). Under § 10.76.200, the director of the county's public works department sets opening and closing times for each park and must post them at the park entrance. Where no specific schedule has been posted, the fallback rule controls: county parks are open daily from 6 a.m. until 10 p.m.

Outside those hours, no person may enter or remain in a county park. The only carve-out is for someone camping overnight in a designated campsite who has already paid the required use fee under §§ 10.76.150 through 10.76.180, which separately cap continuous camping at seven days unless the director sets a different limit for a specific park or area. Park staff and the Thurston County Sheriff's Office enforce the closure alongside the chapter's other after-hours rules, including the ban on unattended fires outside posted areas (§ 10.76.190) and the eight-foot leash requirement for pets (§ 10.76.230).

Anyone cited for being in a closed park faces the general Park Code penalty at § 10.76.410: a misdemeanor carrying a fine of up to two hundred fifty dollars. The chapter exempts parking, standing, stopping and pedestrian violations from that misdemeanor track, treating them instead as traffic infractions under RCW 46.63.020. The current hours language traces to Ordinance 4714 § 10 (1974), last touched by Resolution 15115 in 2015.