Benton County, WA Special Events & Permits: Park Event Permits (2026)

Chapter 7.28 BCC opens by stating its purpose: the county's park rules exist "to maintain the county parks for recreation of the public...and to assure the safety and well being of all persons using same." Subsection 7.28.010(a) defines a "park" as any public ground under the control and supervision of the County Parks and Recreation Department, and the same definitions clause extends "person" to any group, firm or corporation, so clubs and businesses are covered along with individuals.

Subsection (k), Assembly, is the operative rule for booking a park for an event: "No persons shall be allowed to give entertainments of any kind or transact business of any kind, or hold meetings or assemblies of any kind, except by written consent of the Park Board." The written-consent requirement sits alongside two related clauses in the same list: subsection (j) requires written Park Board permission before anyone sells, vends, or solicits orders in a park, and subsection (l) bars commercial advertising outright and requires advance Park Board approval even for small signs or plaques attached to donated articles.

None of these three subsections spells out an application form, fee schedule, or review timeline; the ordinance simply conditions the activity on the Park Board's written consent, which organizers obtain by contacting the Benton County Parks and Recreation Department that administers the parks named elsewhere in the same chapter, including Two Rivers Park and Horn Rapids Park. Because the consent requirement is written into the same numbered section as the county's other park-conduct rules, code enforcement treats an unapproved assembly the same as any other 7.28.010 violation.