Cincinnati, OH Special Events & Permits: Street Fair Rules (2026)

Chapter 765 governs any special event, defined in § 765-3 as a planned temporary gathering on the public right-of-way, or held outdoors on property open to the public, that involves liquor/wine/beer sales, expects 3,000 or more attendees, or needs special city services like street closures. The permit application itself must disclose 'the number of all food vendors; alcoholic beverage vendors; or peddlers or itinerant vendors as defined in CMC Chapter 839 who would be participating' (§ 765-5(b)(10)), and applications for vendor or food licenses must be submitted to the chief of police no later than 30 days before the event (§ 765-9(d)).

The vendor-compliance duty itself sits with the sponsor, not the city. Section 765-11(f) makes the sponsor 'responsible for ensuring that each vendor participating in the event obtains the proper licenses,' and if an unlicensed or improperly licensed vendor turns up, the sponsor is fined under § 765-99 for each one, in addition to whatever fine or penalty the individual vendor faces separately. The sponsor also has to promptly remove that vendor from the event area. Sponsors pay a non-refundable application fee that scales with expected size: $250 for events under 1,000 attendees, $500 for larger ones, and $50 for events run by a neighborhood organization, plus a $50 logistics fee for each additional recurring date (§ 765-6).