Jackson, MS Outdoor Cooking: Smoker Rules (2026)

Sec. on the day of a parade within the downtown business improvement district to use, operate or maintain grills, barbecues, smokers, open-flame cooking appliances, or open burning along the parade route. The same section also bars frying or other cooking with oil or grease along the route unless it is contained and approved under a permit. Sec. 14-200 defines "grill" or "barbecue" broadly to mean any device that uses charcoal, wood, propane, gas or similar fuel to cook or heat food via flame or combustion, expressly including smokers and cooking fire pits, and defines "open flame" or "open burning" as combustion not fully enclosed in an appliance, including campfires and bonfires.

The downtown business improvement district is defined in Sec. 14-200(3) as the area bounded by Court Street on the south to Jefferson, Jefferson Street on the east to High, High Street north to North, North Street to George, George Street north to Lamar, Lamar Street west to Griffith, Griffith Street north to Mill, and Mill Street west to Court. Anyone who wants to cook along a parade route inside that boundary during the restricted hours must apply for an exception, which Sec. 14-205 routes to the police chief and/or the mayor or their designee for approval.

This provision sits inside Article V, Parades, added by Ord. No. 2025-42(3) on November 18, 2025, and it is separate from the general fencing and firearms prohibitions that also apply along parade routes under Sec. 14-204 and Sec. 14-206.