Want to Hold an Event in Oak Forest? Plan Ahead

Event promoters looking to arrange major and minor festivities in the city of Oak Forest have a new set of rules by which to abide in order to get their events off the ground, after the city council approved a new special events ordinance at its Tuesday, March 12, meeting.

The new ordinance condenses and replaces several older ordinances, Oak Forest Police Chief Greg Anderson said.

“This is a complete rewrite of a couple of ordinances that we had before,” Anderson said. “Concerts and public dances, as well as carnivals and festivals. The reason that this needed to be revisited was because the language and several of those old ordinances were confusing.”

Highlights of the new ordinance are:

• Major and minor special event determination
• major special event application requirements with city council approval at least 60 days in advance. Less than 60 days, can be approved by city administrator approved on a case-by-case basis
• City may require city services and bill appropriately and the city council may waive any city costs
• Minor special event requirements (no city services needed)

The big change comes in the form of the differentiation between major and minor special events. Major events would require city services, while minor events would not and could be held on private property, according to Anderson.

“That's really the major crux of the changes on there,” Anderson said.

The new ordinance was approved in a 5-0 vote.