Springfield, OH Special Events & Permits: Parade Permits (2026)

Section 311.02(a) bars any person, group or organization from conducting or joining a parade, assemblage or procession, other than a funeral procession, on a Springfield street or highway without a permit from the City Manager. The City Manager may refuse or cancel that permit on six specific grounds: the parade's time, place, size, conduct, assembly areas or route would unreasonably interfere with public convenience and safe street use; policing it would divert so many officers that normal police protection elsewhere in the City would be denied; its route or assembly areas would unreasonably block police, fire or ambulance movement; it would conflict with another already-permitted parade; the application contains false, misleading or materially incomplete information; or an emergency such as a fire or storm would prevent it from being properly conducted.

Applications must be filed at least five days before the planned date. Any permit or accompanying order may set reasonable conditions on the hours, assembly and dispersal points, route of march or travel, and which streets or portions of them may be used. This same permit mechanism also covers organizers who need to block off a street for the event route, keeping the parade's traffic-control decisions under one City Manager sign-off rather than a separate closure process.