West Des Moines, IA Special Events & Permits: Street Fair Rules (2026)

Section 3-7-4(I), "Multiple Vendor Permit," lets a property owner host more than one mobile food unit at a time, but only through an annual permit the City issues to provide services to a targeted audience rather than to create pop up commercial centers, and the permit runs on the same cycle as the individual unit license: from midnight April 15 through 11:59 P.M. April 14 the following year. Within a single site or development, the permit caps any one grouping at four vendors, though a property can host multiple groupings if they are separated by at least 500 feet along the shortest anticipated pedestrian path, or divided by a four-lane major collector or arterial roadway, or by another obstacle that impacts and limits pedestrian movement.

The City retains discretion to set the actual maximum number of units for a given site below four, weighing emergency access, pedestrian and vehicle conflicts, available parking, and impacts on adjacent streets and properties, and it can later reduce that number or revoke the multiple vendor permit if problems arise. A gathering that is organized as an event, such as several food trucks brought in alongside an advertised car show, is not covered by the multiple vendor permit at all; section 3-7-4(I) instead routes it to a short-term temporary use permit, and the same permit is required whenever a site wants more mobile food units than its existing multiple vendor permit allows. The property owner shares responsibility with the vendors for keeping the site's performance standards and emergency access maintained.