Monroe Township (Middlesex County), NJ Special Events & Permits: Street Fair Rules (2026)

Chapter 48 of the Monroe Township Code defines a temporary retail food establishment as a retail food establishment operating at a fixed location for a temporary period of time in connection with a fair, carnival, circus, public exhibition, or similar transitory gathering. Church suppers, picnics, mobile retail food establishments and agricultural markets sit inside the same definition. Under § 48-3, no fixed, temporary or mobile retail food establishment can serve potentially hazardous food unless one or more supervisory personnel are certified in food safety and sanitation at least once every three years through a course approved by the State Department of Health. The owner, operator or supervisor in immediate charge has to show proof of that training to any authorized sanitary inspector who asks (§ 48-4).

The Chapter 39 fee schedule lists a special event temporary food license at $50, valid for one to three days only. It also lists carnival games or wheels at $20 for each game or wheel held on any one day, or any series of consecutive days not exceeding six consecutive days in one week at any one location, in the same games of chance group as bingo at $20 each occasion and casino nights at $100 per occasion.

Other vendors fall under other chapters. Chapter 72 covers sidewalk sales, parking lot sales and similar outdoor commercial sales run from commercial premises: the Township Clerk issues the permit, applications are due at least 20 days before the sale, a permit runs no longer than 10 calendar days, and no person can hold more than two sales in a calendar year. Sales run between 9:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m., a tent needs Fire Official approval and cannot exceed 150 square feet, and no more than two temporary signs of 15 square feet each are allowed. Chapter 67 requires a special permit from the Township Council for entertaining the general public where a fee or admission is charged or voluntary contributions are solicited, but § 67-3 exempts events with fewer than 5,000 people lasting no more than eight consecutive hours, athletic events, and family picnics sponsored by a charitable or nonprofit group.