York County, VA Food Trucks & Mobile Vendors: Sidewalk & Mobile Vending (2026)

York County, Virginia treats vending in its public areas as a default prohibition rather than a permitted activity. Code § 17-71, in the Public Areas Ordinance chapter, states that no person shall expose or offer for sale any article, thing, or service, nor station or place any stand, cart, or vehicle for the transportation, sale, or display of any such article or thing. Section 17-2 defines public area broadly: the grounds of any county-owned property, including parks, beaches, public boat landings, vacant open land, public parking areas, county building grounds, the county library, the courthouse, public school grounds, and the Yorktown Waterfront.

The vending ban has only two carve-outs written into § 17-71 itself: nonprofit organizations operating under a permit issued by the appropriate approving official, and any permanent, seasonal, or temporary concessionaire that is regularly licensed and acting under the authority and regulation of the appropriate governing official. Because York County has no incorporated towns and no traditional downtown commercial sidewalk district, this section functions as the county's general answer to vending on public grounds: it governs wherever someone sets up in a public area rather than on private commercial property.

A vendor who wants to sell from a table, cart, or vehicle in a county park, on the Yorktown Waterfront, or at another public area must either secure a nonprofit permit or already hold a county concession authorization for that location. The same Public Areas chapter separately restricts unpermitted advertising under § 17-72 and unauthorized signs under § 17-73.