Owensboro, KY Public Conduct: Public Alcohol Use (2026)

Owensboro Municipal Code § 3-56 draws the entertainment destination center (EDC) boundary along the Ohio River to the north, Poplar Street and Elm Street to the west, Fifth Street to the south, and J.R. Miller Boulevard to the east, with an adjoining strip between Fourth, Crittenden, and Fifth Streets; land owned by religious institutions as of the EDC ordinance's effective date, the Shelton Memorial, and the Smothers Park playground between Allen and St. Ann Streets are carved out of the licensed premise. Under § 3-57, the city itself applies for the EDC license and then possesses and secures the common area, controls the public streets for pedestrian safety, and prohibits patrons from carrying drinks past the EDC's physical boundary.

While alcohol is legally being sold, a patron may leave a business that sells alcoholic beverages with a drink and consume it anywhere inside the EDC common area, but any drink leaving a licensed premises must be poured into a designated disposable cup. If an organizer of a permitted special event does not want open containers, the city notifies EDC businesses of the restriction for those specific days. A business inside the EDC still needs its own alcoholic beverage license, and the city manager may separately approve, under 804 KAR 4:370, a supplemental bar license holder to sell from a non-permanent location within the common area; a denial of that written permission can be appealed to the board of commissioners for a hearing. Article III of Chapter 3 sets no penalty of its own, so violations fall back to the general chapter penalty at § 3-37.