Jackson, MS Special Events & Permits: Parade Permits (2026)

City Code Sec. 14-201 (Article V, Parades, adopted by Ord. No. 2025-42(3) on Nov. 18, 2025) states: any person desiring to stage, present, or conduct a parade, motorcade, procession, march, or any other planned movement of persons, vehicles, or animals on the streets of the city must first secure a special event permit "as outlined in sections 14-176 through 14-195," tying parades into the same permitting system used for block parties and festivals. Under Sec. , and Sec. 14-184(a)(8) allows denial if the parade will not move from origin to termination within three hours.

Sec. 14-202 requires every float driver to hold a valid state driver's license. Within the downtown business improvement district, Sec. 14-204 bars fencing, roping off or staking out public property along a parade route starting four hours before the scheduled start, except to protect landscaping with special events committee approval. Sec. ) prohibitions along the route on grills, smokers and open-flame cooking, frying with oil or grease, glass containers, unpermitted ATVs and golf carts, and portable toilets absent a permit, unless the police chief or mayor grants a written exception.

Sec. 14-206 bans carrying firearms at a parade, exempting only commissioned law enforcement. Permit fees follow the Sec. 14-190 classification table by expected attendance and city-service hours, from a fee-free Class D permit (200 or fewer attendees) up to a Class A permit ($10 application, $1,000 permit, $150 sanitation) for events over 5,000 attendees.