Fountain, CO Public Conduct: Public Alcohol Use (2026)

48, 'Open Containers,' traces back to the 1987 code (Ordinance No. 762). 020, 'Drinking in public prohibited,' bars any person from drinking, possessing or controlling a fermented malt beverage or alcoholic beverage in an open container, or one with a broken seal, while in or upon any street, alley, park, public property, vacant lot or ground, or any other public place. 010, defines 'open container' as any container that is open or would allow consumption because its manufacturer's seal has been broken, and defines 'public place' broadly to include streets, alleys, roadways, highways, schools, places of amusement, parks, playgrounds and the common areas of public and private buildings, including parking lots.

Two carve-outs exist: consumption inside a licensed establishment within city jurisdiction, and consumption authorized by a permit the city clerk issues for fermented malt beverages within certain city parks. 030 separately makes it unlawful to drink or possess an open or broken-seal alcoholic container inside any vehicle, whether moving, parked, stopped or standing on a street, alley, roadway or other public place, and extends liability to a driver, owner or person in control who permits such drinking; the section builds in an evidentiary presumption that a partly consumed open container found in the vehicle proves unlawful drinking occurred there.