Kern County, CA Special Events & Permits: Park Event Permits (2026)

Kern County Code Section 13.04.020 governs permission to use county parks and recreation areas: it applies whenever someone wants "to conduct any business, to provide any services, to exclusively use, or to sell, rent, demonstrate, test or observe the performance of merchandise, goods or services in a county park or recreation area or portion thereof." That permission comes from the director of the county parks and recreation department in the form of a written license, lease, concession agreement, or permit, granted only after the applicant files a fully completed application on a county-approved form along with an application fee set by uncodified ordinance.

Applicants must disclose their entity type, the nature of the event, expected attendance, and any subusers, and must carry commercial general liability insurance naming the county as an additional insured, plus a refundable security deposit unless the director waives or reduces it for sound reasons. A companion section, 13.04.180, layers on the reservation mechanics: it sets a separate fee, again by uncodified ordinance, just for reserving a recreational facility, defined to include campsites, mountain group camp facilities, group picnic areas, swimming pools, county public buildings run by parks and recreation, and park sports facilities, along with fees to change a reservation date or process a refund.

Section 13.04.180 specifically states reservation fees are charged in addition to, not instead of, the application fees required under Section 13.04.020. A nonprofit group using a park facility to raise money must separately obtain a charity solicitation permit, and any applicant who fails to file the required post-event gross-receipts report under Section 13.04.020(G) is barred from getting a subsequent permit.