Does a street festival need a permit?
In Dallas, the City of Dallas Office of Special Events says a permit is generally needed for temporary outdoor gatherings of 100 or more that sell food or goods, use large tents, or install portable toilets for public use. Other cities set their own rules, so ask the town hosting your event.
Parade routes and street closures involve extra steps with the city, and the application often asks how many portable toilets you will provide. Settle the count with the provider before you file.
The permit guide outlines what the city publishes and who to contact. This site cannot say a permit will be approved.
A festival often has an operations lead who works with the city. Put that person in touch with the provider so that closures, access and the permit count are all discussed together. Separate conversations lead to separate assumptions.
How many units does a festival crowd need?
Dallas County Fire Marshal guidance asks private event organizers for at least one toilet per 150 people. This site names no City of Dallas ratio. Festivals that run for hours, serve alcohol or draw families should plan above the minimum, and a provider can help you size it.
Count peak hourly attendance and the total for the day. A festival with 18,000 visitors spread over a weekend is a different problem from one that fills in two hours. The unit count guide goes through how to scale.
Ask the provider for its own recommendation, and ask why. A provider that has serviced similar events can tell you where the lines will form.
Think about vendors, performers and volunteers as well as visitors. A festival with 200 vendors has a workforce of its own, and it needs units behind the stage or in the vendor lot, not only on the public side.
How do you plan around weather?
Plan for a range of crowds, not a single number. Ask the provider what it can add or remove at short notice, and keep the footprint clear for a service truck even in rain. A Saturday washed out and a Sunday sunny are common in a North Texas spring.
Richardson plans to move the festival to a two-day Friday and Saturday format from 2027, which shows how much weather and budget move the plan. Do not promise a particular day or crowd to the provider; give a range.
A call the morning of the event, if the forecast changes, is reasonable. The provider decides what it can do with the units and trucks it has.
Walk the footprint with the provider if you can, or send photos. A quick look at the ground and the gates settles questions about truck access and surface that no phone call can.
Where do the units go during a parade?
Units for a parade go along the route's edges, beyond the barricades, or at the staging area where floats and bands assemble. They need their own truck access, which a closed route can block. Tell the provider the route, the closure times and where trucks can enter.
Participants, not just spectators, need restrooms. Bands, riders and volunteers gather before the start, and a block of units at the staging area saves the spectator facilities.
Consider handwash stations at the staging area and the food zone.
Where a parade ends, a crowd disperses into the streets nearby. Plan a bank of units at the end of the route, or beyond it, so that a crowd of marchers and families is not looking for a toilet when the music stops.
