Scranton, PA Special Events & Permits: Parade Permits (2026)

D of the Scranton Zoning Ordinance treats a parade or any other 'special event' that will attract significant numbers of the public as a temporary use requiring a permit issued by the Zoning Hearing Board acting as a special exception. A brand-new event is reviewed differently from an annual reoccurrence of a previously held event: for a first-time event, the Board must deny the application if it finds that sanitary and water service, traffic control, off-street parking, and protection of public health, safety, and welfare will not be adequately provided.

Duration is capped too. D(1), a temporary approval for a special event should run no longer than six consecutive days in any sixty-day period except under special circumstances, though the Board can grant one approval covering numerous occurrences of the same recurring event rather than making an organizer reapply every year. City Council or the Zoning Hearing Board can waive the application fee for a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizer that shows the event serves a charitable or public purpose. C(3). Because the event permit sits inside the Zoning Hearing Board's special-exception authority rather than a standalone parade ordinance, the same review standard applies whether the gathering is a parade route down a city street, a church festival, or a block party, and denial hinges on the four adequacy findings the ordinance names by name.