Portage County, WI Public Conduct: Public Alcohol Use (2026)

Sec. 6.2.10 of the Portage County Code, part of the Portage County Green Circle chapter, states plainly that no person may sell or consume alcoholic beverages within the Green Circle Trail Corridor, and separately bars possessing or using any illegal narcotic drug there. The Green Circle is the county-managed, roughly 18-foot-wide, 30-mile linear trail corridor running through the City of Stevens Point, the Village of Whiting, the Town of Hull, the Town and Village of Plover, and the Village of Park Ridge, so the ban applies along the whole corridor regardless of which municipality the trail segment crosses.

The county applies a similar rule at Sunset Park, a county park, where Sec. 6.1.10(10) separately bars consuming or possessing alcoholic beverages. Enforcement on the Green Circle runs through Sec. 6.2.16: the Corporation Counsel may prosecute, or the Parks Director may instead impose a $20.00 secondary notice fee, payable within five days before the matter goes to the Corporation Counsel. An unresolved violation is punishable by forfeiture under Chapter 5, plus all applicable costs, fees and assessments, with default subjecting the violator to up to 30 days in the Portage County Jail.

Citations may be issued by any peace officer of the county, city, town, or village with jurisdiction over the corridor, or by other persons designated under the section, giving multiple agencies authority to enforce the trail's alcohol ban.