Sparks, NV Public Conduct: Loitering Rules (2026)

34, the special-events chapter, and exists to keep people away from heavy equipment during event setup and teardown. 105, the prohibition covers any public area under city or other government control inside Victorian Square, defined as the blocks bounded by Nugget Avenue, 15th Street, D Street and Pyramid Way. It runs for two windows: the 24 hours before a special event opens, and the period between an event's close and the moment the police department decides it is safe to let the public back into the plaza.

During those hours, maintenance trucks, garbage trucks, street sweepers and power equipment such as pressure washers move through the square, and the ordinance's stated purpose is to keep loitering pedestrians away from that traffic. 'Loiter' means being in a public area for no obvious reason; simply crossing the square to reach a store or another destination outside Victorian Square is not a violation. 050. Several groups are carved out: vendors and their staff working a permitted event, merchants with fixed premises in the square, people occupying a designated free-speech site, city employees and contractors doing cleanup or event work, and licensed private patrolmen holding a Washoe County Sheriff work card. The rule was last amended by Ordinance 2439 in 2010, building on Ordinance 2364 from 2007.