As many New Yorkers learned last week, anyone who wants to have a big event in a city park needs to get a permit — even Lorde. (That’s the pop star who told fans to meet her in Washington Square Park last week, only to cancel her plans for a lack of permit.)

Get ready to plan ahead. For most gatherings, permits aren’t too hard to acquire — but they do come with a fee, and must be requested at least 21 days before your event. 

The NYC Parks Department permits over 24,000 events annually, according to director of citywide special events Anne McTernan.

“Parks really are there to serve the community and be New Yorkers’ backyard,” she said. “A lot goes into coordinating so that we don’t double book spaces.”

Apply for a permit online — or the cops could break up your party and have you asking “What was that?”

Who manages park permits?

Each borough has its own Parks Department office that manages permits for its city parks. These offices handle smaller-scale events, like kids birthday parties or community gatherings — anything over 20 people, up to 499.

If you want to throw an event for more than 500 people, your permit application has to go through a separate citywide office.

“Music festivals like Global Citizen, Gov. Ball; the New York City Marathon — those events come to my office,” said McTernan.

When do I need a permit?

Special events permits are needed for any gathering of over 20 people in a city park. So if you’re a Grammy-award winning pop star planning to fill up Washington Square Park for your single drop, this definitely applies to you.

Even if your fan base is smaller, you may still need or benefit from a permit. For example, if you want to reserve a space for something like wedding photos and make sure no one else can book it, or if you plan on using amplified sound (more on this below). 

If your event is going to be over 500 people, you submit the same permit application but there are going to be more procedures for you to follow. Most importantly, you should submit your permit as far in advance as possible, and know that your event will likely cost more money. For large-scale events, there are site fees for operating on parkland. And the more permits you file for, the more money you’ll have to spend.

Oh, and if you want to have an athletic event that takes place on a court or field, that requires a different permit.

, these permits are only for throwing an event in a city park. For events hosted in other places, like throwing a block party on a city street, there’s a different process. 

Ready to apply? Here’s how:

Go to the “Special Events Permit Application” page on the NYC Parks website. You’ll need to make an in order to apply. 

According to the Parks Department, event permits take between 21 and 30 days to process — and they won’t accept applications that are submitted less than 21 days in advance. 

The permit application will ask you questions about yourself, like your name and your address. You’ll next answer questions about the event, like roughly how many people will be attending, what time will it start and end, and whether you’ll be charging for entry or selling any merch. 

“Have you had this event before? And if you haven’t, what are the details about your event: the date, the location that you’re looking for, the timing, infrastructure,” said McTernan.

You’ll next need to select the borough, park, and area where you want to hold your event. Then, you’ll have to answer more questions, including: Will there be security? Will your event be promoted? And — a recent addition to the questionnaire — will there be drones? (Drones are not allowed to fly in city parks without special permission.)

There’s a fee for applying: $25. Unfortunately, even if your application gets denied or your event is cancelled, the fee is nonrefundable. 

The bigger the event and the more complicated it is, the more complicated the permit process will be — but it all starts with the same application. 

“If you’re distributing food, either for free or for sale, there’s fees through the Department of Health, and there’s permits for distributing food,” explained McTernan. “If you have a large-scale piece of infrastructure like a big stage, there’s a fee for that.”

If you want to use amplified sound, that’s another permit — this time, with the NYPD.

If you plan to get loud, prepare for more paperwork. Using amplified sound, like a speaker, megaphone or amplifier, requires another permit. 

Once you receive your special event permit through Parks, then you can apply for another permit from the police to allow for amplified sound. You must file that at least five days before your event. So, if you want to be sure that you have enough time, you should probably apply for your parks permit earlier than 30 days in advance so that you have time to get the NYPD permit, as well.

You have to file your amplified sound permit at the precinct where you’ll be holding the event. Not sure which one is right? Look up the correct precinct here. You’ll also have to pay $45 once your sound permit is approved.

Do you have to pay to host your event on parkland?

It depends on what type of event you want to throw. In general, big events will cost more money and require more permits than small ones. Also, if you’re selling anything at your event, you can expect to pay some fees as well. 

Larger events will pay site fees, which can range from $200 to the tens of thousands. For example, if you’re throwing a for-profit commercial sports game in the middle of Times Square, that’ll run you $35,000. (Much of Times Square is not park space, but Father Duffy Square, right smack dab in the middle, is a triangle park managed by the Parks Department.)

McTernan says a rule of thumb for whether your event will involve paying site fees is whether it’s charging for entry or participation, like a concert with paid tickets or a marathon people pay to run in. 

“If you’re charging a fee, you’re getting charged a fee,” she explained.

However, if you’re throwing a small, non-commercial event, you definitely won’t have to pay for the parkland itself, though you may still have to pay fees for things like amplified sound.

“Birthday parties, community picnics, small-scale things that are very community driven and are not promoting some corporate brand or some major performer — we would not assess a site fee for events like that,” McTernan confirmed. 

Keep in mind: Not all parkland is managed by the Parks Department.

The Parks Department oversees a lot of public space. But there are many acres of open space in the city that it isn’t responsible for.

Those include spaces managed by “authorities,” like the Battery Park City Authority, the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation and the New York City Housing Authority. There are also many state and federal spaces, including Shirley Chisholm State Park in Brooklyn and Jacob Riis Park, part of the Gateway National Recreation Area.

Some plazas and open areas are also managed privately, like Zuccotti Park, famously the site of the Occupy Wall Street protests in 2011, which is one of hundreds of privately owned public spaces (or POPS) in New York City. 

Before applying for a permit with the Parks Department, make sure your event is in a public city park. Otherwise, you may need to get in touch with a separate entity altogether.

What happens if your permit application gets rejected?

If your event proposal gets rejected by the Parks Department, it’s likely because there’s another event already happening during that time or construction going on, said McTernan. It could also be because you’ve proposed an event that’s too big or otherwise incompatible with the space you’re asking to use. 

In that case, the Parks Department will work with you to find a better location or another date for your event. 

“Obviously, if we’re doing 24,000 special event permits a year, we’re not rejecting a lot — we’re saying yes to a lot of things,” said McTernan. “We spend a lot of time working with applicants because we want to see these events happen in a park.”

What are the consequences for not getting the right permit?

It’s not illegal to skip the permit process — but you likely won’t get a second chance to throw your party the right way. 

“Unpermitted events may be shut down, and organizers may be subject to notices of violation that could impact their ability to receive future permits,” said McTernan. “Doing something without a permit could have consequences on your plans to do something in the future.”

She also cautions people not to try and hide their events from Parks.

“New York is a public stage. You can’t do anything in a park without somebody pulling out their phone and recording it so, you know, be communicative and be honest about what you’re planning on doing,” she said.