North Charleston, SC Public Conduct: Public Alcohol Use (2026)

Sec. 3-2(a) makes it unlawful to drink any alcoholic liquor, beer or wine on the streets, parks or public places in the city not licensed for on-premises consumption of alcoholic beverages. The only exceptions are in Sec. 3-2(b). First, a public park, street or sidewalk that city council designates by resolution as the site of a festival or special event, provided the event is approved in advance under the city's festival policy, the sponsoring person or organization obtains two million dollars of insurance naming the city as an additional insured, files an application with the municipal clerk thirty days before the festival, submits a security plan twenty days before it, and cleans the site immediately afterward.

m. No one may be excluded from the event for non-membership in a sponsoring organization, though uninvited guests may still be removed from rented facilities. Second, Sec. 3-2(b)(2) exempts the designated section of the City of North Charleston Riverfront Park whenever an event permit allowing alcohol has been administratively approved. A related provision, Sec. 3-3, separately bars being drunk or intoxicated in any street, public house, place of amusement or worship, or other public place, and Sec. m.