Marietta, GA Special Events & Permits: Street Fair Rules (2026)

Section 5-4-110, the general obstruction rule for streets and sidewalks, carries a special carve-out in subsection D for festivals and arts programming. It authorizes the city manager to promulgate rules, procedures and regulations, as approved by council, allowing temporary city-sanctioned use of public sidewalks for the promotion of the arts, special events, and festivities. The section goes further than a bare grant of authority: it expressly declares that existing sidewalk usages for events and art promotions, including but not limited to Art Walk and Third Tuesday, are valid and made part of the Code section, unless the city council revokes them or they create a nuisance or obstruction.

That means an organizer running a recognized recurring event does not need to separately re-litigate sidewalk access each time, though the city retains the power to pull that authorization if a specific event becomes a nuisance or genuinely blocks passage. The carve-out is narrowly drawn geographically: subsection D is limited to city sidewalks and does not extend to city parks, other publicly owned property, or private property, so a festival that needs park space or private lots must clear those separately. Federal and state accessibility law is layered on top: subsection E requires that any obstruction from an authorized event still comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, and an ADA violation must be corrected immediately.