Kent County, DE Public Conduct: Public Alcohol Use (2026)

Kent County Code § 168-12, titled 'Intoxicated persons, alcoholic beverages and drugs prohibited,' contains two distinct prohibitions that apply throughout the county's park system. Subsection A bars intoxication itself: 'It shall be unlawful for any person to enter or use any recreation facility who is under the influence of any alcoholic beverage or drugs.' Subsection B goes further and bans mere possession, regardless of intoxication: 'It shall be unlawful for any person to possess any alcoholic beverage or drug while within the confines of a County park.' Because possession alone is prohibited, bringing a cooler of beer to a picnic area is a violation even if no one is visibly intoxicated.

The rule sits among a cluster of park conduct restrictions in Chapter 168, including a companion ban on glassware in § 168-13 and a prohibition on riotous, boisterous, threatening or indecent conduct in § 168-23Q, both of which commonly come up alongside alcohol enforcement at picnic pavilions and reserved facilities. The Parks Division and any Delaware State Police officer or authorized park employee assigned to a park area can enforce § 168-12, and a group holding a facility-use permit under § 168-5 can lose that permit for violations elsewhere in the chapter.