Bristol, CT Special Events & Permits: Street Fair Rules (2026)

Section 17-24 of the Bristol Code of Ordinances creates a special event license for people or entities selling products at parades, festivals and other special events recognized and approved by the city council, distinct from the standard peddler license in Sec. 17-31. Under subsection (a), the vendor applies to the police department with a $25 fee, must display the license at all times, and may only sell during the event's hours and at the event's location, not before or after or somewhere else in the city.

Subsection (b) gives the city council discretion to reduce that $25 fee to a nominal $1 and waive the licensing procedure entirely when doing so helps promote a community-beneficial event, weighing factors like the event's cultural, educational, artistic, humanistic, charitable, scientific, literary or historic value. Subsection (c) exempts any parade, festival or special event that the city itself sponsors from Chapter 17's vendor rules altogether, but the organization running it or any individual vendor still must carry the insurance coverage required by Sec. 17-23, and a food or beverage vendor must file with the Bristol-Burlington Health District for a food service certificate, applying separately for each event even though certificate holders are exempt from additional temporary-event fees.

Because Sec. 17-24 operates alongside, not instead of, the general peddler and canvasser licensing scheme in Division 2 of the chapter, it gives event organizers a faster, cheaper path than the standard $185 annual peddler license when sales happen only at a scheduled festival or parade.