Stanislaus County, CA Public Conduct: Public Alcohol Use (2026)

020, adopted by Ordinance CS 1392 on April 29, 2025, prohibits consuming or possessing any can, bottle, or other receptacle containing an opened alcoholic beverage in any community park or neighborhood park the county owns or operates. The ban reaches every part of those parks, grounds, playgrounds, walkways, streets, driveways, and parking lots, but excludes any community center building located inside them. The only carve-out for open containers is a special event the parks director or an authorized agent has approved in advance. Subsection C lets people carry closed containers between the parking lot and the community center building solely to set up or break down an approved special event for which the building has been reserved.

A separate, broader rule in subsection D makes it unlawful to consume alcohol without a permit in any county-owned or -operated park at all, with one exception: designated regional parks, where that blanket permit requirement does not apply. Because subsection D covers "any" county park while subsection A is limited to community and neighborhood parks, a visitor to a regional park faces a different rule than a visitor to a neighborhood park across town. 020, the general penalty section, rather than a misdemeanor. 260, barring return for up to twelve months and denying any refund of park user fees already paid.