Memphis, TN Special Events & Permits: Street Fair Rules (2026)

Section 6-4-3 sits in Chapter 6-4, 'Amusement Businesses Generally,' alongside the city's other entertainment-permit rules, circus and circus-parade permits under § 6-4-2, shooting-gallery permits under §§ 6-4-6 and 6-4-7, and bingo reporting under § 6-4-5. The street-fair provision is short and direct: it is unlawful for any person connected with any street fair or carnival to give any exhibition within the corporate limits of the city at any time without a permit issued by the director of police services. The section traces back to the 1967 and 1985 codes and was last amended by Ordinance No.

2726 in July 1978, and it places permitting authority for street fairs and carnivals with the police department rather than a parks, business-license, or special-events office, reflecting the public-safety focus the chapter takes toward traveling amusements generally. Because the prohibition reaches any person connected with the fair or carnival, not just its organizer, an individual exhibitor or vendor operating within an unpermitted street fair can be charged under the same section as the promoter who failed to obtain the permit in the first place. The ordinance does not itself set a fee schedule, application form, or advance-notice period; those procedural details are left to the director of police services to administer.