Brockton, MA Special Events & Permits: Parade Permits (2026)

Unlike outdoor dining or food trucks, Brockton's code sets no written application, fee, or notice period for a parade. Instead, authority rests with the chief of police under two adjoining sections that both trace back to the 1965 code. Section 12-27, Closing Streets, authorizes the chief to close, temporarily, any street or highway in an impending or existing emergency, or for any lawful assemblage, demonstration or procession, as long as there is reasonable justification for the closing. Section 12-72, Temporary Parking Prohibitions, gives the chief the parallel power to prohibit parking temporarily on a street or part of one for the same reasons, an impending or existing emergency, or a lawful assemblage, demonstration or procession, again subject to reasonable justification.

That section also gives officers explicit authority to move any vehicle left parked in a zone where parking has been temporarily prohibited. In practice, an organizer planning a parade, demonstration, or lawful assemblage has to work directly with the police department to get the chief's approval for both the route closure and any accompanying parking suspension, since the ordinance gives the chief case-by-case discretion rather than fixed criteria or a standard permit form. Both provisions sit in Chapter 12 (Motor Vehicles and Traffic), reflecting that Brockton regulates parades and public assemblies as a traffic-management function of the police department rather than through a separate special-events licensing chapter.