Gaston County, NC Public Conduct: Public Alcohol Use (2026)

§ 18B-101, on the premises of any building the county owns or occupies. The ban is narrower than a citywide open-container law: it reaches county buildings, not public streets or sidewalks generally, and Gastonia, Belmont, Mount Holly, and the county's other towns set their own open-container rules for their own streets and parks. The county carves out two exceptions: consumption allowed under Chapter 12 of the Code, which separately addresses intoxicating liquor in county parks at § 12-23, and consumption at an event the county itself sponsors, or that a nonprofit corporation directly supporting a county function sponsors, once the county authorizes that event.

Anyone found with an open beer or a glass of table wine inside the courthouse, the administrative building, or another county facility outside those two exceptions violates the section regardless of whether they are a visitor, employee, or event attendee. The section has been amended repeatedly since its 1980 adoption, most recently by Ordinance No. 2025-381 in November 2025, and it now sits alongside § 11-2, which lets the Gaston County Police Department pull State Bureau of Investigation criminal history on applicants for state ABC permits within the county's jurisdiction.