Carroll County, GA Special Events & Permits: Parade Permits (2026)

Under Article I, Section 8(b)(1) of Carroll County's enabling act (1989 Ga. Laws, page 3546, as amended), the Board of Commissioners holds express authority to regulate and control, by permits or otherwise, and to prohibit entirely, the times, routes and manner of conduct of parades, motorcades and other assemblages moving along county roads, streets, lanes, alleys, sidewalks, parks, plazas, squares and public places. The same clause reaches public address systems and other noise-making devices used at such events. This power applies only in the unincorporated area of the county, outside the corporate limits of Carrollton, Villa Rica, Temple, Bowdon, Whitesburg, Mount Zion and Roopville, each of which issues its own event permits under its own municipal code.

The enabling act does not itself print an application form, fee schedule or advance-notice deadline; those mechanics, if adopted, sit in implementing resolutions the commission enacts under this authority. What the printed text does establish is that an organizer needs the commission's permit, or faces an outright ban, before staging a parade or motorcade on unincorporated county roadways, and that the commission can dictate the route and timing rather than an organizer choosing them freely. A related cross-reference confirms the framework functions in practice: Sec. 66-69(9) of the county's noise control article exempts 'any parade, celebration, performance, program, sporting event, activity or other event duly authorized by a county, city, or school district' from the general noise restrictions, meaning an authorized parade is a recognized, distinct category under the code, not merely tolerated.

Violations of any ordinance the commission adopts to carry out this authority are punished under subsection (c) of the same section, which caps penalties at a $1,000.00 fine, 60 days in the county jail, or both.