Alexandria, VA Public Conduct: Public Alcohol Use (2026)

Under City Code Sec. 1(a), it is unlawful for anyone in Alexandria to possess an open or opened receptacle containing an alcoholic beverage in or on any publicly or privately owned park, playground, street, alley, sidewalk or other pedestrian walkway, or a parking lot to which the public has access, and the same ban extends to a motor vehicle sitting or driving on any such street, alley or lot. The rule is not limited to city-owned land: a privately owned parking lot or walkway open to the public is covered too.

Subsection (b) carves out three exceptions: premises licensed by the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Board for on-premises retail consumption (bars and restaurants), an area the ABC board has approved under a banquet license or mixed beverage special events license for a specific event, and a public street temporarily closed for a special event under a permit from the director of transportation and environmental services. That is why a beer garden is lawful during a permitted Old Town festival but not on an ordinary sidewalk. A violation is a class 4 misdemeanor, the lowest criminal tier under City Code Sec.

1-1-8(d), carrying a fine of not more than $250 and no jail exposure. The Alexandria Police Department enforces the section on routine patrol, and officers typically pair the citation with a public intoxication charge when the person is also drunk in public.