Sacramento County, CA Special Events & Permits: Street Fair Rules (2026)
Key Facts
- Trigger threshold
- gatherings over 500 persons
- Filing deadline
- 90 days before event start
- Administering office
- County Treasurer-Tax Collector
- Damage bond
- $50,000 or $10/attendee, greater
- Cleanup bond
- not less than $5,000
- Security staffing
- 1 guard per 200 attendees
- Park exclusion
- County-run park festivals exempt
Summary
Any outdoor gathering of more than 500 people for a dance, concert, carnival or similar musical event in unincorporated Sacramento County needs a Special Business License from the Treasurer-Tax Collector. Applications are due at least 90 days before the event, and organizers must post separate bonds for damages and cleanup.
"Outdoor festival" shall mean any outdoor gathering of more than five hundred persons for the purpose of participating in or attending a dance, music carnival, "rock" festival, or like musical activity at which vocal or instrumental or both vocal and instrumental music is provided by professional or amateur performers or by prerecorded means, held at any place other than in a permanent building, stadium or like permanent installation... No person shall sponsor, conduct, promote, advertise or sell or furnish tickets or other authority for an outdoor festival unless under and by authority of a valid, unexpired and unrevoked Special Business License authorizing the outdoor festival issued pursuant to the provisions of Chapter 4.10 and this chapter. ... an application for a Special Business License to conduct an outdoor festival shall be filed not later than ninety calendar days in advance of the date the festival is proposed to commence.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: rev 4941150; v18 updated 2026-05-19).
Full Breakdown
38 defines an "outdoor festival" as any outdoor gathering of more than five hundred persons for a dance, music carnival, "rock" festival or like musical activity held outside a permanent building or stadium, open to the public with or without an admission charge. 205, no one may sponsor, conduct, promote, advertise, or sell or furnish tickets for such an event without a valid Special Business License. 250). 245). 100). 070). 006). 260).
Violations & Fines
Violating Section 4.38.205 after an enforcing official (the Sheriff, the Treasurer-Tax Collector's Director, or another authorized County officer) serves written notice and orders the violation stopped is a misdemeanor under Section 1.01.190. During the festival itself, the Sheriff may interrupt or terminate it and order attendees to disperse if attendance exceeds the licensed maximum, drug or alcohol violations under Section 4.38.110 overwhelm available security, required services become inadequate, or criminal conduct outpaces law enforcement resources (Section 4.38.125); disobeying that dispersal order is separately unlawful.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does a small neighborhood street fair need this license?
How far ahead must a Sacramento County festival organizer apply?
What happens if the County restricts the license from what was requested?
Can the Sheriff shut down a festival already underway?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Sacramento County
California rules heatmap·Compare Sacramento County to another location·View the California special events & permits overview
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