Porta Potty Rental for Farmers Markets, Swap Meets and Craft Fairs

Should I keep units on site or have them delivered each market day?

Weekly pumping, cleaning and restocking is included on our 28-day rentals, and extra visits are available for busy markets. Event rentals start at $189 per unit.

For a market that runs every week, a standing rental is usually the simpler choice. The exception is a lot that changes hands between markets, such as a mall car park or a street, where the owner or the city will not allow units to stay.

Making a standing rental work:

1. Get the property owner's agreement in writing, with the exact spot marked.
2. Choose a corner the truck can reach on service day even when the lot is full of the owner's regular traffic.
3. You can padlock a unit between markets with your own lock, and the market manager can hold the key or combination. Leave it unlocked, or give us the combination, on service day.
4. Fix the service day. For a Saturday market, Thursday or Friday service means units start the day clean and full of paper.

What does California require at a certified farmers' market?

State law says approved toilet and handwashing facilities must be available within 200 feet travel distance of the premises of a certified farmers' market, or as approved by the enforcement officer (Health and Safety Code §114371(c)). In Riverside County the enforcement agency is the Department of Environmental Health.

What that means in practice:

• It is travel distance. The 200 feet is measured along the route a person walks, not in a straight line across a fence or a row of stalls.
• It can be met with an existing restroom. A shop, community building or park restroom within 200 feet counts if it is open to vendors during market hours and the inspector accepts it. Get the owner's agreement in writing, because a key that goes missing on market morning puts the market out of compliance.
• Otherwise, portable toilets with a hand-wash station fill the gap. Ask Environmental Health to confirm that your planned units and stations will be accepted as "approved" before you rely on them.
• The toilet needs hand washing with it. The statute pairs the two. Hand sanitizer alone is not a handwashing facility.

Markets listed in our area include the Temecula markets in Old Town on Saturdays, at the Promenade on Wednesdays and at Vail Headquarters on Tuesdays, and a Sunday market at Village Walk Plaza in Murrieta (Visit Temecula Valley; LocalHarvest). Days and locations change, so check each market's own listing.

What do food vendors need for hand washing?

There are two different hand washing needs at a market, and they are easy to confuse.

Inside the food booth. Vendors who prepare or sample open food are temporary food facilities. Riverside County Environmental Health requires each booth to have its own station: a potable water container with a free-flowing spigot, liquid soap in a pump dispenser, paper towels and a catch basin. Events under three days may use at least five gallons of water preheated to 100°F. Gloves and hand sanitizer are not accepted as a replacement (TFF Operator's Agreement; Temporary Event Operators Guide). That booth set-up is the vendor's own job. Our stations do not replace it.

At the restrooms. The county's guide for temporary food operators says restrooms must be available within 200 feet, with hot and cold running water, liquid soap and paper towels (Temporary Event Operators Guide). This is where a hand-wash station beside the portable toilets comes in. Portable stations normally supply unheated water, so ask your inspector whether one satisfies the guide at your market.

How many units does a market need?

Fewer than a festival with the same footfall, because shoppers come and go. Count two groups separately.

Vendors and staff. They are on site from set-up to pack-down, often six to eight hours, and cannot leave a stall for long. As a benchmark, the Cal/OSHA construction standard is one toilet and one wash station for every 20 employees. It is not written for markets, but it is a fair guide. See the Cal/OSHA guide.

Customers. Size for the number of shoppers on the lot at the busiest moment, not the day's total. A market that sees 2,000 visitors across five hours may never have more than 400 at once, each staying under an hour. The PSAI chart gives 2 units for 500 people staying one hour and 4 for two hours (PSAI).

These starting points are our own estimates built from the PSAI figures.

Swap meets run longer than farmers' markets and shoppers stay longer, often with food and beer on sale, so they sit at the upper end. In Perris, for example, the city code lets a licensed swap meet open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. (Perris Municipal Code Ch. 5.46). That is a twelve-hour day for vendors.

For numbers fitted to your market, use the porta potty calculator. At a public market each group of units needs at least one accessible unit under the California Building Code (CBC §11B-213.2). See ADA-accessible units.

Where should units go in a parking lot?

Most markets set up on asphalt, which is good ground for portable restrooms. The layout is what goes wrong.

• At an end of an aisle, not in the middle. Shoppers find them, and the queue does not block stalls.
• Within 200 feet of the food vendors, measured along the walking route.
• Out of the vehicle lanes. Vendors drive in to unload before opening and out after closing. Units should not be where a van reverses.
• On level ground. Car parks slope toward drains. Pick a level bay, keep units back from the drain inlet and off the painted accessible parking bays and their access aisles.
• Accessible unit at the front, with a clear, level path from the market aisle and no kerb in the way.
• In shade if there is any. A unit in full sun on black asphalt in an Inland Empire summer gets very hot. A north-facing wall or a tree line helps.
• Reachable on service day. For a standing rental, the truck must get to the units when the lot is in normal use. Do not choose a spot that is fenced off or parked in during the week.

Before the first delivery, check who controls the lot. A market on a closed street will need the city's approval for anything standing in the right-of-way. The permit guide covers encroachment rules.

What about craft fairs and holiday markets?

Craft fairs, makers' markets and holiday boutiques usually run a few times a year, so they are deliver-and-remove jobs. Many are held in school gyms, church halls and winery grounds where the building's restrooms are limited. One-off markets in a city may need a temporary use or special event permit, with lead times from 30 days in Temecula to 60 days in Menifee, Lake Elsinore and Wildomar. If yours is on a campus, see church and school events. For a street fair format, see community events.

Market rental FAQ

Who pays: the market manager or the vendors? The manager or operating association signs and pays. Most recover the cost through stall fees.

Do you supply trash dumpsters for swap meets? Dumpsters come from our sister company, Victory Dumpsters. Check your lease or permit for any trash service conditions first.

Which areas do you serve? Markets across western and central Riverside County, including Temecula, Murrieta, Menifee, Lake Elsinore, Perris, Hemet, Riverside and Corona. See service areas, or return to event porta potty rental.

Get a quote for your market

Call (951) 517-3600 or send the form with the market address, days and hours, number of stalls and whether you want units to stay on site. We will reply with a unit count, a service day and a full price.