Leominster, MA Special Events & Permits: Park Event Permits (2026)

Two adjoining sections of Chapter 15 govern who may hold an event on Leominster's Common or in its public parks. Section 15-2 bars anyone from delivering a sermon, lecture, address or discourse on the Common or any public park without first obtaining the city council's permission and paying a one-dollar fee to the city treasurer, a flat rate that traces to the 1960 Revised Ordinances, chapter 28, § 4, and was last amended September 23, 1991. Section 15-3 covers commercial and promotional activity: no one may expose for sale or sell goods, wares or merchandise on the Common or a public park, or erect or maintain a booth, stand, tent or other apparatus for amusement or a show, without city council permission and payment of whatever fee the council sets for that use, rather than the fixed dollar charge that applies to speeches.

Both sections originate from chapter 28 of the 1960 Revised Ordinances, §§ 4 and 5, and were re-adopted in their current form on September 23, 1991, meaning a group planning a rally, market booth, fair exhibit or amusement ride on city park land needs council sign-off before setting up, not just a parks-department reservation. The two permission requirements sit alongside other Chapter 15 rules protecting park property, including bans on removing gravel or sand under § 15-4 and on defacing monuments, seats or fences under § 15-5, all part of the same article governing conduct on the Common and in Leominster's public parks.