Milwaukee, WI Special Events & Permits: Street Fair Rules (2026)

If an applicant for a permit will be

conducting a street festival as defined in s. 92-1-9, the

applicant shall provide a list of all persons and their

respective permanent addresses, including peddlers

and solicitors, who have obtained permission from the

respective festival organization to sell goods or take

orders for the later delivery of goods within the

barricaded area of the street festival, no later than 2

working days prior to each event for all non-food

vendors and 7 working days for food vendors.

c. Approval or Denial of Permit. Upon

receipt of a completed application, the commissioner

shall submit the application for review to the chief of

police and the common council members in whose

districts the event is to occur. The police department,

in consultation with the commissioner and the local

common council member or members, shall

determine the classification of each special event. The

commissioner shall have the authority to modify the

route, time and place of a special event to facilitate

crowd control in the interest of relieving congestion

and promoting public safety, provided that the

applicant's right of free speech is not denied thereby.

The commissioner shall issue a permit unless:

c-1.

The special event is of such a size or

nature requiring the diversion of so great a number of

police officers, ambulances or other emergency