Palm Beach Gardens, FL Special Events & Permits: Parade Permits (2026)

Sec. 78-751 of the Palm Beach Gardens Code defines a special event broadly as any temporary meeting, activity, or gathering of persons, animals, or vehicles that affects or impacts the ordinary and normal use of a public or private facility, street, sidewalk, alley, or building by substantially inhibiting the usual flow of pedestrian or vehicular traffic, so a parade or public assembly on a city street falls squarely within the permit requirement of Sec. 78-187(a). No person, firm, group, corporation, or institution may participate in, advertise for, or promote such an event without a special event permit issued through the growth management department.

Applications go to the planner on a city-provided form, and the filing deadline scales with expected attendance: one month ahead for 1,000 or fewer people, two months for 1,001 to 5,000, four months for 5,001 to 50,000, and six months for crowds over 50,000, unless the growth management director waives a deadline for good cause. Sec. 78-187(d) confines special events to the city's nonresidential zoning districts, CN, CG-1, CG-2, CR, P/I, M-1, M-1A, M-2, PDA, and PO, except that events in residential districts are limited to public or private schools, churches and houses of worship, public parks, and similar property.

An event cannot run longer than seven consecutive days without city council approval, and no applicant can hold more than four events per year at one location absent council approval. Operators must carry at least $1,000,000 of liability insurance naming the city as an additional insured, rising to $2,000,000 for events expected to draw more than 10,000 attendees, and the growth management director can require a refundable security bond to cover cleanup and any damage to public property.