From birthdays to weddings, block parties to sports teams—reserve Berkeley parks, courts, and facilities for your next event.
Throw a birthday party at James Kenney Park’s pickleball courts. Host a neighborhood potluck with a bounce house at San Pablo Park. Say your vows in the Rose Garden.
By working with City staff, you can book various City facilities or temporarily use a variety of public spaces for your events – both big and small.
Reserve courts, picnic areas, or sports fields. Close down streets for a party. Rent a community center – or even our camps in the Sierras. Use a City venue for your family reunion, wedding, meeting, or youth sports camp.
Follow the reservation process and guidelines to ensure your gatherings run smoothly and are safe, accessible, and enjoyable for the whole community. Some activities — such as closing a street, amplified sound, serving alcohol, or selling food — also need permits.
Use City spaces as an extension of your backyard. Start early and reserve sports courts, picnic areas, and a wide variety of City facilities for your gatherings.
Small gatherings: Reserve a picnic area, court, or field
Book a picnic area, bounce house site, tennis or pickleball court, or sports field for small events.
These are great for birthdays or community gatherings for less than 50 people. These spaces in designated City parks must be reserved online or by email. Larger events may require a special permit.
If you play basketball, volleyball, tennis, pickleball, soccer, skateboarding, disc golf, or softball, we have parks for you to do what you love. To find one, visit the Parks page and use the “Sports Facilities” filter.
Picnic areas and bounce houses
You can reserve picnic areas in Berkeley parks for groups of 20 to 80 people. If you need space for more, César Chávez Park can accommodate up to 200.
Reservation fees are based on site size and range from $40 to $79 for four hours, with $220 charged for the largest site.
At six parks, you can add a bounce house to your picnic. Both the picnic area and bounce house site must be reserved, and rentals must use City-approved vendors.
For details, visit Picnic Area Rentals.
Tennis and pickleball courts
Most tennis and pickleball courts in Berkeley parks can be reserved. Booking ahead ensures you’ll have a court when you arrive, especially during peak hours.
Save your court by reserving online:
- Tennis court reservations: $7/hour for residents ($8 non-residents) during the day; $10–$12/hour at night on lighted courts. Reduced rates apply for youth, seniors, and people with disabilities. Reservations up to 2 hours, 7:00 am–10:00 pm.
- Pickleball court reservations: $7/hour for residents ($8 non-residents) during the day, with reduced rates for youth, seniors, and people with disabilities. Reservations up to 2 hours, 8:00 am–8:00 pm.
Before reserving a court, review the locations available and rules in Court Reservations.
Sports fields
Reserve one of our 25 sports fields for soccer, softball, frisbee, or other recreation. Some fields are available for free community use at specific times.
Visit Sports Fields to see locations and contact options.
Rent a City space for a Gathering, meeting, or wedding
You can reserve Berkeley parks or City facilities like classes, community gatherings, meetings, retirement celebrations, and weddings. Spaces include community centers, senior centers, amphitheaters, camps, and parks.
- Adventure Playground: Reserve for groups of 5 or more children. Available daily in two 2-hour time slots. Fees vary by group size.
- Amphitheaters: Great for performances, classes, or ceremonies.
- Camps in the Sierra: Host corporate retreats, group events, or weddings at Echo Lake Camp (near South Lake Tahoe) or Berkeley Tuolumne Camp (near Yosemite).
- City Parks: Hold classes, reunions, or weddings for 60 to 250 people at outdoor venues like the Rose Garden, Codornices, Live Oak Park, or César Chávez.
- Community Centers: Reserve gyms, meeting rooms, and event spaces for 200 to 467 people. Nonprofits, neighborhood groups, and community agency contract groups may qualify for free use.
- Senior Centers: Book rooms for groups of 15 to 200 people.
- Waterfront: Reserve scenic shoreline areas for gatherings (some locations require a permit; four can host groups under 100 without one).
Check availability and follow the appropriate reservation process for each type of facility. Events with more than 50 people may require special permits, see below for details.
Host a weekend block party on your residential street
Gather your neighbors and host a block party. You can apply for a permit to close your street, between 10:00 am and 8:00 pm, for a Saturday or Sunday event.
Neighbors who live on a block can apply to temporarily close a street for a small neighborhood event open only to people who live there.
The process requires a $15 fee and one form submitted by mail or email by the Tuesday before your weekend event.
For details, including information about bounce houses and amplified sound, start at our block party page.
Large public events require special event permits
If you're planning an event with more than 50 people on a City street or in a City park, reach out right away – larger events take longer to coordinate. The bigger your event, the earlier we need to hear from you. Even smaller events need completed applications submitted at least 30 days in advance.
Special event permits include Street Event Permits for events on streets or sidewalks, and Park Event Permits for large gatherings in City parks.
You’ll likely need one of these special permits if your event:
- Has more than 50 people
- Includes a street closure on a weekday, or on a weekend in a commercial area or near a church
- Features two or more of the following:
- Amplified sound (including from phones or speakers)
- Serving, selling, or giving away food
- Alcohol service, which must be served by a licensed vendor
- Large setups or activities beyond normal park or street use
See the Special Event Permits page for fees, application forms, requirements, and deadlines.
Make use of City of Berkeley spaces. Host your next birthday, block party, or community event at a Berkeley picnic area, sports field or court, park or facility, or neighborhood street.