Smyrna, TN Public Conduct: Public Alcohol Use (2026)

Section 11-201 of the Smyrna Municipal Code, enacted by the Town Council, reaches three separate acts: drinking, consuming, and merely having an open can or bottle. The third act matters most to residents, because a person who is not drinking at all still violates the section by carrying an open container of beer or intoxicating liquor into a covered place. The list of places is broad. It names any public street, alley, avenue, highway, sidewalk, public park, and public school ground, then closes with the catch-all phrase 'other public place.' Because parks and school grounds are named outright, a picnic on town parkland or a tailgate on a school lot sits inside the ban.

The exception is written into the same sentence: a place that has a beer permit and license for on-premises consumption. The exception turns on the permit held by the place, so a licensed on-premises venue is treated differently from the public sidewalk outside it. Alcohol sales themselves are regulated in Title 8, which the chapter cross-references, and § 11-202 separately bars anyone under 21 years of age from loitering in or around or otherwise frequenting a place where beer is sold at retail for consumption on the premises.

The Smyrna Police Department enforces the chapter within the town limits. Section 11-203 classes any violation as a civil offense that, on conviction, is punishable under the general penalty provision of the code. The chapter also carries a state law reference to T.C.A. § 39-17-310 on arrests for public intoxication, with a note that cities cannot pass separate legislation on that offense. Smyrna's open-container rule is therefore a rule about possession and consumption in public places, not a public intoxication ordinance.