Lancaster County, SC Special Events & Permits: Park Event Permits (2026)

Sec. 24-1 of the parks and recreation article puts the director of the county parks and recreation department in charge of implementing rules for the conduct, admission and regulation of users at every county park and recreation area, facility or program open to the public, wherever this article does not already address the situation or a park needs its own specific rules. The director needs the county administrator's approval to adopt those rules and must notify the administrator in writing thirty days before any new rule takes effect.

Sec. 24-3(18) then sets the baseline reservation policy: day-use recreation areas, facilities and picnic areas run on a first-come, first-served basis unless someone has reserved the space in advance, but the recreation buildings and some shelters are available by reservation only, meaning a group cannot simply show up and claim them the way it could an open picnic area. The article does not print a fee schedule or reservation application form within these sections; those details flow from the rules the director adopts under Sec.

24-1's rulemaking authority. Groups planning an event should also avoid the separate conflict rule in Sec. 24-3(31), which bars organizing a park event that disrupts a department-scheduled event, routine department business such as field prep, inspections or mowing, or another already-reserved use, and bars any event inconsistent with a site's intended use. Sec. 24-4 applies the article's misdemeanor penalty to a violation of either the reservation-only rule or the conflict rule.