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

Section 6-1 of the Code of Ordinances bars drinking, attempting to drink, or aiding and abetting someone else in drinking any malt beverage, wine or other intoxicating liquor in a public place in the unincorporated county. The list of covered locations is broad and expressly non-exclusive: public roads, streets, highways, parking areas, sidewalks, public buildings, public parks, public schools, athletic contests, or any other public place, premises or property open to the general public within the county's boundaries. and known as The Earl Scruggs Center: Music and Stories from the American South.

Outside those two sites, anyone caught drinking, or even attempting to drink, in a public place is subject to the general penalty schedule in Section 1-8, and the violation is a misdemeanor. The Sheriff's Office patrols the county roads, parks and parking areas the ban covers and is the agency that typically issues the citation that starts the Section 1-8 penalty process. The ordinance dates to April 1975 and was last amended in January 2022; the two site-specific exceptions were added by amendment in January 2012 and July 2013, showing the board has narrowed the ban only for those two named venues rather than opening it countywide.