Costa Mesa, CA Special Events & Permits: Street Fair Rules (2026)

Costa Mesa regulates street fairs, festivals and craft fairs through two separate tracks. Article 11 1/2 of Title 9 classifies 'carnivals, circuses, fairs, festivals, nondomesticated animal act or exhibition, and similar activities' and 'outdoor craft fairs' as special events under Section 9-205, which means the event organizer needs the Section 9-206 special event permit described for parades and public assemblies. Separately, Article 4 of the business tax chapter taxes the commercial activity that happens at that fair. Section 9-28(a) requires the person operating, managing, conducting or promoting a show, exhibition or swap meet, defined broadly enough to reach a multi-vendor fair, to pay an annual business tax on the gross receipts the promoter derives from all such events held in the city, computed under the Section 9-25 schedule, plus an additional $5 for every exhibitor, vendor or seller who participates.

Section 9-28(b) requires the promoter to submit a full list of participating exhibitors, vendors and sellers, including their state resale numbers, to the tax collector so sales tax gets properly credited to Costa Mesa. Section 9-28(c) confirms the $5 charge does not apply to any exhibitor, vendor or seller who is independently exempt from business tax, but the promoter still owes the $5 to the city on their behalf. Section 9-28(d) makes a business license issued under this section valid for a full year from the month issued, covering repeat events of the same nature without a new tax, except that new exhibitors joining a later show in the same year still trigger the $5 charge.