Raise a toast to spring break 2023 if you want, just don’t do it on public beaches in Gulf Shores and Orange Beach.

Both coastal cities have renewed measures they’ve implemented in recent years to make their beaches less hospitable to unruly gatherings. In January the Gulf Shores City Council passed a resolution prohibiting the possession and consumption of alcohol on public beaches from March 1 through April 17.

Grant Brown, recreation and cultural affairs director for Gulf Shores, said the city passed an ordinance in 2016 that provides the legal framework for the “limited prohibition,” and every year since then the council has passed a resolution to set the specific dates when it will be implemented.

Spring Break 2023 gets rolling the second week in March with Auburn University and other colleges going on break, and picks up steam the third week in March with the University of Alabama and a host of other major schools.

In Orange Beach, meanwhile, police put out a message on Monday saying that “If you are looking for a party town, the City of Orange Beach is not it.”

Though the social media post didn’t address any beach closures, a city official confirmed Tuesday that Orange Beach is once again closing down access to one specific site, the Alabama Point East beach at Perdido Pass. Orange Beach Special Projects Coordinator Marc Anderson said the beach could be closed all the way through April.

This will be at least the fourth year the beach has been shut down to prevent crowds building. The initial closure came after controversy in spring 2020. As public gatherings were being shut down in the face of the mounting COVID-19 pandemic, large crowds of young beachgoers prompted a backlash.

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Since then, some city officials have said closing that particular beach helps bolster Orange Beach’s image as a destination for families. “We’ve eliminated that area so we don’t have all these spring breakers sowing mischief,” Mayor Tony Kennon said in 2021. “We’ll eliminate any place in town where they can congregate by the hundreds.”

Back in Gulf Shores, Brown said that city police have renewed a mutual aid agreement with the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office that will help put additional manpower on the beach as spring break peaks.

And there’s one other thing incoming visitors might want to be mindful of: Starting March 1, new parking fees go into effect at several public beach parking areas. Full information, including rates at paid lots and the location of free on-street parking, can be found at www.gulfshoresal.gov.