Colorado Springs, CO Public Conduct: Public Alcohol Use (2026)

Sec. 704, "Drinking In Public Prohibited," bars drinking any alcohol beverage on any street, alley, avenue, park, vacant lot or ground, public stairway or hall, "or in any other public place" anywhere in the City, with the only exceptions being licensed establishments and Common Consumption Areas the City has authorized. The section carries a built-in evidentiary shortcut: if a person is seen in one of those public locations holding an alcohol container that is open and less than full, that observation alone is prima facie evidence of a violation, meaning the City does not have to prove the person was actually drinking at that moment.

A footnote to the section notes the Parks and Recreation Manager may issue a permit allowing alcohol consumption in City parks under Chapter 9 of the Code, so a park permit is the one carve-in available for otherwise-prohibited park drinking. Sec. 705 extends the same prohibition to vehicles, making it unlawful to drink in a vehicle on any street, roadway or other public place, and also making it unlawful for a vehicle's driver, owner or person in control to allow anyone else in the vehicle to drink while it is on a public street or roadway.

That section uses the identical open-and-less-than-full-container evidentiary presumption. Both provisions trace back to 1968 Code sections and were most recently amended by Ordinance 17-75 (Sec. 704) and remain in Chapter 2, Article 5 covering liquor and public drinking offenses citywide, not merely downtown or in specific districts.