Madera, CA Public Conduct: Public Alcohol Use (2026)

02(A) of the Madera Municipal Code makes it unlawful to drink intoxicating liquor on the city's public streets, sidewalks, alleys, vacant lots, or in public places generally. The code carves out two exceptions: liquor may lawfully be consumed where it is lawfully sold for on-site consumption under state law (a licensed bar, restaurant patio, or similar on-sale premises), and it may be consumed inside the Rotary Public Park Picnic Pavilion by a group that has obtained a rental permit and paid the required permit and security deposit fees.

Subsection (B) is a separate, narrower prohibition: it is unlawful for anyone to possess an open container of any alcoholic beverage in any public park within the city, regardless of whether the liquor is being actively consumed. 01(C), otherwise downgrades city ordinance violations enacted or amended after June 1, 1981 to infractions under Cal. Gov't Code Section 36900 unless the ordinance itself specifically designates a misdemeanor. 02(C) makes that designation explicitly, public drinking and open-container violations remain misdemeanors rather than infractions. 01(A), a misdemeanor conviction under the Madera code carries a fine of up to $1,000, imprisonment in the city or county jail for up to six months, or both, with each day a violation continues chargeable as a separate offense. in 1991.