Butte County, CA Special Events & Permits: Parade Permits (2026)

A 'parade' under Article X is any parade, march, ceremony, show, exhibit, pageant, procession or similar display on a county street, highway, road or alley, and no one may engage in, aid, form or start one without a permit from the Sheriff, though wedding and funeral processions, supervised school activities, government agencies acting within their functions, and election-related vehicular processions held within five days of an election are excluded (Secs. 14-20, 14-21). An applicant must file with the Sheriff no less than thirty and no more than sixty days before the parade date, though the Sheriff can accept a late filing for good cause, and pay a fifty-eight-dollar service fee (Sec.

14-22). The application must list the organizer, any sponsoring organization, the date, route, starting and termination points, expected number of people, animals and vehicles, the hours of travel, whether the parade will use the full road width, assembly locations and times, and the spacing planned between units (Sec. 14-22(2)). The Sheriff circulates the application to Public Works, the county health director, the California Highway Patrol's Oroville office, area fire chiefs and the civil defense office, who have fifteen days to reply; if their comments or the Sheriff's own investigation show no threat to safety or the departments' operations, the Sheriff issues the permit as requested, and if there is a threat, the Sheriff can alter the route, timing, spacing or size instead of denying it outright (Sec.

14-23). Anyone aggrieved by the permit's terms, including a county department, can appeal to the Board of Supervisors within three days of issuance, and the Board's decision is final (Sec. 14-24). Every permit fixes a starting time, minimum and maximum speeds, spacing between units, the streets and portions to be used, and the parade's maximum length, and the permittee must carry the permit while leading the parade (Secs. 14-26, 14-27).