Mount Pleasant, SC Special Events & Permits: Street Fair Rules (2026)

Town Council created the special event permit system "for various reasons: traffic control, avoiding a nuisance to others, controlling the effect on the surrounding area, and the like" (Mount Pleasant Code of Ordinances § 116.01). Any outdoor activity on commercial, institutional or governmental property counts as a special event, and organizers cannot let a temporary event become permanent (§ 116.02(A)(1)). Festivals and carnivals fall under the major-impact category defined at § 116.04(A), covering "events with an expected attendance of 500 or more people, festivals, carnivals, parades, television and film productions." For those events, the Town Administrator or a designee may grant the permit only "if the proposed use would not cause traffic congestion and would not create a nuisance to surrounding areas" (§ 116.04(B)(1)), and may set whatever "conditions and timeframes as deemed appropriate" (§ 116.04(B)(2)).

The Administrator can also punt the whole application to Town Council, whose decision "is final" (§ 116.04(C)(2)). Loudspeaker or amplified music use tied to a street fair is separately capped: normally not permitted "after 7:00 p.m. on Sunday through Thursday, and after 9:00 p.m. on Friday and Saturday" (§ 116.02(B)). Fees are set at § 116.05(A): "Festival: $100 (one day) or $150 (two days)." Schools, churches and government entities using their own property are exempt (§ 116.06(A)), and a festival at the Memorial Waterfront Park follows the separate fee schedule at § 97.03 instead (§ 116.05(H)).