Arvada, CO Special Events & Permits: Street Fair Rules (2026)

2 lists the activities exempt from the transient merchant license that otherwise applies to ambulatory vendors, food or personal-service vendors, and entertainers. Two of those exceptions cover street fairs and festivals directly: subsection b exempts vending or entertainment tied to special events authorized by the City, which instead falls under the Special Event Permit process in Section 3-1-4-8, and subsection c exempts vending or entertainment for recurring organized festivals or events in Olde Town Arvada that the City authorizes, naming the Harvest Festival and Business Improvement District sponsored events approved by the Director as examples.

The exemption is narrow: it removes the separate transient merchant license requirement, but Subsection C still requires every vendor and entertainer at the fair to comply with the time, place and manner standards in the rest of Section 3-1-4-11, and the event organizer still needs whatever temporary use or other permit the underlying event requires under the City Code or City Charter. The section also exempts sidewalk sales by an existing adjacent business, outdoor restaurant seating sales, vending of self-produced expressive material such as books or art, and vending of newspapers, leaflets, pamphlets, bumper stickers or buttons, none of which need a transient merchant license either.

Community Development ties the Olde Town exemption to events the Director actually approves, so an unapproved pop-up festival vendor in Olde Town still needs the standalone license.