Event Portable Toilets in Lincoln Park, Chicago

What do a 30,000-visitor art fair and a Park District permit mean for restrooms?

A fair of that size is a vending event, and the Chicago Park District's rules start at much smaller numbers. Events with 50 or more participants, amplified sound, vending, tents or stages need a permit. Picnic levels 3 and 4, and every Athletic, Corporate and Festival/Performance permit, must provide portable toilets for participants. The revenue department number is (312) 763-6710.

If your event is on the street rather than in a park, the Mayor's Office of Special Events at (312) 744-3315 is the city office to ask. Either way, the permit is yours to secure and a provider cannot promise one.

For the toilet count itself, the Chicago code for temporary events says more than 30 people present needs at least 2 toilets, and above 600 people it adds 1 for every additional 300 or fraction of 300. Our event portable toilets page shows how providers turn a headcount into an order.

What about food booths and wine strolls?

Where food is sold, the Chicago Department of Public Health's Food Protection Services reviews special-event food booth, mobile food and sampling applications, and booths need a Summer Festival Food Vendor Sanitation Certificate. A wine stroll with sampling falls squarely into that review.

For restrooms, that means a vendor-heavy event has two kinds of hand-cleaning need: guests, and the people running booths. We found no Chicago rule that sets the number of handwash stations, so we state none; ask the provider what it recommends for your crowd. Handwashing stations covers the options.

Marathon morning on the park's doorstep

The course passes through Lincoln Park and Old Town, one of 29 neighborhoods on a route with start and finish in Grant Park and 20 aid stations one to two miles apart, each with standard and ADA portable toilets. The 47th running drew a record 53,000 runners.

The aid stations serve runners; a business, a block club or a viewing party on the route may want its own units for guests. That is a small order, but it is on a closed street on race morning, and the provider needs your access plan to say whether it can deliver. Read marathon and race toilets before you call (888) 351-0294.

Park, street or private lot: which office do you call first?

Lincoln Park has all three kinds of ground within a few blocks, and each has a different first call. For park ground, the Chicago Park District's revenue department at (312) 763-6710. For a closed street, the Mayor's Office of Special Events at (312) 744-3315. For a private lot, the property owner, with the plumbing code's 5-foot setback from property lines for nonsewer facilities in mind.

Once that is settled, the provider needs four facts: the date, the address or the cross streets, the expected headcount, and where a truck can reach the spot. A zoo-adjacent weekend and a quiet Tuesday are not the same day for a delivery.

Accessible units come up often at public events. The marathon's aid stations each carry standard and ADA portable toilets, but we found no Chicago-specific ratio for how many accessible units an event must have, so we state none. Ask what the provider recommends in ADA accessible portable toilets and plan from there.