My city has a waterfront district where everyone goes on the Fourth to watch fireworks. It becomes an all day thing, with people coming and staking out good spots early in the day. I was thinking that it might be a good opportunity to try out some magic. Not necessarily full-scale busking, where I have a hat to pass, but entertainment. (If money is offered, however, I would take it. )

I looked on the city's website, at the Municipal Code, and didn't see anything that mentioned busking or street performing. I want to make sure that it's legal to do this without a license, and I want to make sure I didn't overlook something in the Code.

So ... if anyone here is familiar with Tacoma, Washington's laws regarding street performances, I'd appreciate comments. Or, if you're good at looking through Municipal Codes and are willing to, the Code is located at: http://www.cityoftacoma.org/default.asp?......ault.asp (and my actual hometown, University Place, is: http://search.mrsc.org/nxt/gateway.dll/u......ates$3.0 ). Any help and advice you can give would be appreciated.

Thanks.

I found a code 6.53 that covered Theaters and Shows. Street entertainment, although not specifically named, would probably fall under Class 2. A Class 2 license is $10 a day. Pretty cheap insurance if you were challenged. Just explaining what you do to someone in the city office might tell you more. Tacoma isn't on the "places to busk" lists I've seen. There might be a reason for this that they're not saying. Definitely better to ask, unless you want to risk having them put you up for the night. July 4th is a long weekend this year, and since nobody works on the 5th, it might take you longer than you expect before anyone's available to hear your pleas.

I was thinking it'd probably fall under that, but it didn't quite fit any of the definitions I saw. $10 a day, huh? That could get expensive if you weren't good enough to make money, lol. Which means I should probably only do this if I'm serious about it. Serious enough to start earning money, that is.

Thanks. What "places to busk" lists are you referring to? I'm not familiar with any.

Try http://www.performers.net From there, they have links to all sorts of resources. Also, visit http://www.thedannyhustleshow.com/forums for advice from performers "on the street."

Since as far as I know, the 4th of July is only one day a year, it'll only cost you 10 bucks. If you're serious, it's $50 for an entire month. But, please don't take my word for it. Even if "on paper" it looks good, if the police don't want you there, there's really not much you can do to change their mind. Even if come Tuesday morning a judge agrees with you, it's already ruined your weekend.

Thanks. I spent some time searching and, while I didn't find any clear answers, I *did* find out who I should contact for info. It may be too late, though; I don't know. Anyway, the deal I was referring to is called the Freedom Fair, and I found their website by searching on Google for a long while and finding a reference to someone going down and busking there a couple times. The folks at the Freedom Fair site are most likely the ones to ask, I think.

Silverfire9,

Since you're not there to busk, then don't busk! If people offer you money, don't accept it. If you are on public land and not asking for, nor accepting money, you can't get into trouble; it's that first ammendment thing.

Regards,

Brady

Finally got a response from them. Like I was afraid of, it's too late to get a license, and the response indicated that they *really* didn't want anyone performing (for money or not) without their approval. So that's out. Ah well. That doesn't necessarily preclude showing someone something, though. As long as I don't go on long enough to get a crowd.

An excellent lesson for all of us.

Don't wait until you want to perform to start to find out if you will be allowed to do it.

Permits, even cheap ones take some time (even if only minutes) and are only available during the local Government's "working hours" which as you might expect is only certain days, and actually not very many hours per day

BroDavid