About the Office of Special Events

The City of Seattle plays a strong role in helping event planners bring people together safely and successfully in both city-wide and neighborhood events. Within this site are guidelines and requirements, event calendars, and contact information.

During both good and difficult times for the City of Seattle, special events help build a sense of belonging and community pride.

Special events such as fairs, arts, art-centered performances, festivals, concerts, sporting activities and others, bring people together from different backgrounds and different neighborhoods throughout the city. Together our citizens share a day, a week or an hour of transformation, laughter and fun. Special events weave the fabric of our community by creating opportunities to interact, celebrate, enrich people's lives, promote inclusiveness, and stretch imaginations.

Special events build family traditions, opportunities to participate, inclusiveness and unique experiences. Special events provide a chance for neighbors and strangers, big communities and small groups to interact and have common experiences.

It is important that the City of Seattle play a strong role in encouraging and helping events that bring the community together to take place safely on its streets and in its parks. These events encourage and support the interaction of neighbors, friends, families and strangers in addition to providing positive economic impact. It is essential that the City of Seattle encourage and support the safe interaction of neighbors, friends, families and strangers through the shared experience of special events. Special events create wonderful memories and provide the bonding that every community needs for economic and emotional growth.

As a dynamic city, Seattle has many constitutionally protected free speech events. One purpose of these guidelines is to assist event organizers in exercising their constitutional rights balanced with the City's right to regulate the time, place, and manner of special events in order to protect public health and safety, to reduce adverse impacts on the public places and neighboring areas, and to protect the rights of other users of our public places.

The Seattle Special Events Office processes applications for review by the Special Events Committee and the City's Special Event Coordinator serves as your primary contact with the Seattle Special Events Committee.