Jackson County, MI Special Events & Permits: Park Event Permits (2026)

Chapter III, Section 1 of the Jackson County Parks and Recreation Commission Ordinance requires any group or gathering of 25 or more persons to obtain written permission from the Director before using an area of Commission property to the exclusion of others. Section 2 sets the mechanics: the Director decides the application format and what uses are permissible, and every application must carry a $50 deposit. That deposit funds the Commission's post-event inspection and cleanup; if a Commission employee finds the reserved area clean of debris, the $50 is returned within 48 hours of the inspection, and the Director's judgment on the area's condition is final.

If debris is left behind, the deposit is forfeited outright to cover cleaning and inspection costs. Applications must be submitted at least seven days ahead of the requested date, and the approved reservation must be posted at the site itself so other park users can see it is reserved. When two groups want the same space, the Commission works through applications in the order they were received rather than by group size or event type. A granted permit is personal to the applicant: Section 2(F) states flatly that it 'is not transferable,' so a group cannot hand its reservation to another organization.

Anyone holding a reservation must also comply with the rest of the ordinance while on site, including the hours-of-use, fire, alcohol, sound-amplification and littering chapters that apply to all Commission property. Reservations run through the Parks and Recreation Commission office at the Director's direction, not through a general county permitting counter, since the county itself has no zoning or general land-use permit code.