Richland County, SC Public Conduct: Public Alcohol Use (2026)

Section 18-5 of the Richland County Code sets two separate prohibitions. Subsection (a) makes it unlawful to consume beer, wine or any other alcoholic beverage from an unsealed container on any public street, public sidewalk, in any public parking lot or public alley, or at any public gathering or other public place. The section carves out one exception: gatherings held on premises that hold a valid license or permit specifically allowing public consumption of beer, wine or another alcoholic beverage are not covered, so a permitted festival or licensed outdoor event can serve and allow drinking within its footprint.

Subsection (b) is broader than the open-container rule and reaches private property too: it is unlawful to consume beer, wine or another alcoholic beverage on private property without the consent of the owner, meaning trespass-drinking on someone else's yard or lot is its own separate violation from the public open-container ban. Neither subsection sets its own fine, so a citation falls to the Code's general penalty provision in Sec. 00 or imprisonment of up to 30 days, and each day a violation continues counts as a separate offense.

The ordinance dates to Ord. No. 2124-91, adopted July 24, 1991, and has not been amended since. Because it applies only to the unincorporated county, it does not reach Columbia, Forest Acres, Blythewood, Eastover or Irmo, each of which enforces its own open-container rule inside city limits; it also does not reach Fort Jackson, which is federal land, or University of South Carolina property, which the state regulates. The rule sits in Chapter 18 alongside the county's other public-order offenses, including loitering and the noise nuisance standard, and like those provisions it is enforced by the Richland County Sheriff's Department.