Planning Restrooms for a Street Festival in Chicago

What should you settle first when planning restrooms for a Chicago street festival?

Settle three things before you ask anyone for units: who issues your permit, how many people you honestly expect at the busiest hour, and where the closed street begins and ends. Those three answers decide the toilet count, the accessible units, the handwash points and where a truck can drive.

Most street festival restroom problems are planning problems that show up on the day. A block that looked spacious on the site plan turns out to have one usable service entrance. A beer garden sits next to the only shaded corner. A crowd estimate that was written for the permit application is a daily total, while the toilets have to cope with the peak hour.

Chicago's festival calendar is crowded. The city's summer festival guide lists more than 20 street festivals between May and September, and Taste of Chicago has returned to July. That is why the early phone calls matter: providers are asked for the same weekends, and a call line like Chicago Porta Potty Rental can only connect you with a provider who has units available on your date. Nobody can promise availability for a particular weekend before that provider confirms it.

• Write down the closed blocks, the barricade points and the one or two gaps where a truck can enter.
• Estimate the peak-hour crowd as well as the daily total, and note when the peak falls.
• List every food and drink vendor, because each one changes where handwashing has to go.
• Decide who at your end will meet the provider on delivery morning and sign off on placement.

Which Chicago office do you call, and what does each one cover?

It depends on where the festival sits. Street closures and neighborhood festivals go through the Mayor's Office of Special Events at (312) 744-3315. Park events go through the Chicago Park District's revenue department at (312) 763-6710. Food booths are reviewed by the Chicago Department of Public Health's Food Protection Services.

Treat the permit office as your first source of rules, because it can tell you what applies to your specific event. The numbers below come from the city's published materials, and your own permit paperwork overrides anything a general guide says. If a requirement is not spelled out in what you were given, ask the office directly and write down the answer.

One search gap is worth stating plainly. The published text we reviewed did not set out street-festival permit requirements beyond the Special Events phone number, and it found no handwash rule or accessible-unit count for Park District events. Do not assume one exists or does not exist. Ask.

How many portable toilets does a street festival need?

The code gives a minimum, not a recommendation. For a temporary event in Chicago, more than 30 people present means at least 2 toilets, and above 600 people the code adds 1 toilet for every additional 300 people or fraction of 300. Festivals with long hours, alcohol or families usually want more than the minimum.

Read the minimum as the line you must not go under. It says nothing about queue length, and queues are what guests remember. A festival where people wait a long time for a toilet loses them from the music, the vendors and the sponsor tents, and the complaint ends up with the organizer.

Several things push the useful number above the floor. Alcohol sales do, because people drink and then queue. Long days do, because each guest uses a toilet more than once. Families with small children do, because a child cannot always wait. A festival that ends with a concert or a parade of floats concentrates the crowd in a short window, which is exactly when a minimum count fails.

For guidance on the sizes of crowds Chicago events can reach, our guide on how many portable toilets to bring to a Chicago event walks through the scale of the Marathon and the Pride Parade, and the street festival toilets page describes what is usually ordered for a closed block. Ask the provider for a recommendation based on your hours and vendors, and ask the permit office whether any minimum applies to your event type.

Where do the units go on a closed street?

Put units where people already gather, on level ground, at the edges of the footprint rather than in the middle, and where a servicing truck can reach them. Keep them clear of food booths and stages. Place at least one accessible unit on the firmest, flattest, most direct route from the entrances.

A closed street looks wide open, but it is full of constraints. Barricades block the truck. Curb bump-outs and planters narrow the lane. A stage takes up one end and its sound crew takes the other. Walk the route on foot with the provider's driver or dispatcher before delivery day if you can, and photograph the spots you agree on.

Keep units away from the food. A line outside a toilet should not run into a line for a food vendor, and the smell of a crowded toilet should not drift into a dining area. In a neighborhood like Pilsen, where Fiesta del Sol fills the commercial strip with food, or in the Old Town corridor, where an art fair packs sidewalks with booths, the barricade line and booth rows leave little room to improvise, so decide the position on paper.

Accessible units need their own thinking. The user needs a firm, level approach, a clear space in front of the door and a short, direct route. Our page on ADA accessible portable toilets covers what these units are as a product. How many an event needs is a question for your permit office and your provider: the search we relied on found no Chicago-specific accessible-unit ratio, so none is stated here.

• Ask for a stable, level surface for the accessible unit, away from curbs and cross slopes.
• Keep a clear aisle around each bank so a queue never blocks a sidewalk or an exit.
• Leave a servicing path that does not run through the crowd or a vendor tent.
• Mark the units in the festival map and on the day's volunteer briefing.

How do handwashing and food booths fit together?

Put handwashing where people use toilets and where food is handled, not only in one spot. The Chicago Department of Public Health reviews festival food booths, and booths need a Summer Festival Food Vendor Sanitation Certificate. This guide states no handwash count because the search found no published city rule.

The Chicago Department of Public Health's Food Protection Services reviews special-event applications for food booths, mobile food and sampling. Booths need a Summer Festival Food Vendor Sanitation Certificate. That is the food side, and it is separate from your toilet order, so ask the vendor coordinator to confirm that each food vendor has handled the review.

For the restroom side, the practical question is where a guest can wash. A handwash station beside each toilet bank is the obvious placement, because hands are cleaned right after use. Stations near the seating area or the food court catch people before they eat. Our handwashing stations page describes the product type, and the provider can tell you what is available for your date.

What do real Chicago festivals show about planning?

They show that crowds, footprints and calendars differ widely. The Old Town Art Fair lists 200-plus artists and about 30,000 visitors, Sundays on State has welcomed over one million people, and the Logan Square Farmers Market runs every Sunday. Each needs a different restroom plan from the others.

A weekend art fair in a residential neighborhood has a long, thin footprint and booths along both curbs. A weekly farmers market has a small, steady crowd and little reason for a large bank. A festival that closes a downtown street for many blocks has to place units where a truck can get in at the beginning and out at the end. In each case, the right answer starts with the footprint and the permit, then moves to the count.

What should you tell the call line before you order?

Give the date, the closed blocks, the expected peak crowd, the hours, the permit type, whether food and alcohol will be sold, and whether anyone needs accessible units. The call line connects you with a local provider, who confirms availability and what can be placed where.

A good request is short and specific. It names the neighborhood and the cross streets so the provider can picture the access. It says when units are needed, when the event opens, and when it ends. It lists the number of vendors and whether alcohol is served. It says who will meet the driver and where the units are going.

When you are ready, call (888) 351-0294. The call line connects you with a provider; it does not promise a delivery time, a given date or a particular unit count in advance. Everything depends on what the provider has available.