Maryland bounce house insurance: a county park party is public, a backyard party is not

Read literally, the Department of Labor's memo makes a birthday party in a county park pavilion a public event, because it counts public property as public. The same party in a customer's backyard is private. Maryland does not ask what the inflatable is. It asks who was invited.

The public versus private memo says the safety law's stated aim is the safety of the public at "carnivals, fairs and amusement parks," and concludes that inspections should cover events "open to all." We read the Maryland Department of Labor, the General Assembly's statute pages and the Division of State Documents on 2026-10-01. Our state table lists Maryland among the partial states.

Where the line falls

A community event, or one the community can walk into, is public. So is an event held on public property. A private event is one where people attend by invitation, normally on private property, where the public "cannot walk in as an uninvited guest." Attractions at private events "do not fall under the Amusement Attraction Safety Law."

Money does not decide it. Paying to use an attraction, the memo says, "in and of itself" has no bearing on whether the event is public.

A school carnival, a church picnic with open invitations and an HOA block party are the cases the memo does not name. The Safety Inspection Unit at 410-767-2348 is the office to ask, and the question is how it classifies your recurring customers.

Four feet is where the annual inspection starts

The inspection section of the Business Regulation Article, section 3-402, makes the Commissioner of Labor and Industry inspect "annually" each inflatable amusement attraction in which an individual in contact with it is "4 feet or more above the ground." The certificate for such a unit expires within one year. Unlike other attractions, inflatables are exempt from the inspect-when-moved rule. Section 3-401 bars operating any attraction without a certificate of inspection and without the statutory insurance.

So a low toddler castle and a 15-foot slide are not equal in the statute's eyes. For units under four feet, the section does not set a yearly schedule, yet the department's main page still says no owner may operate "unless the amusement attraction has been registered, inspected, and a certificate of inspection issued." Whether a unit under four feet needs a yearly visit is not stated, so find out which units on your list do.

Registration, and two different notice periods

The registration page says owners register previously certified attractions by April 1 each year. A new attraction is registered "as soon as practical or at least 30 days" before it operates. The department sends a re-registration packet in late December or early January, and the only way to receive a certificate of registration is to send it back.

Two sources from the same state disagree on how much lead time a new inflatable needs:

• The registration page says each owner of an inflatable submits an inspection request form "at least 5 business days" before the scheduled operation date.
• COMAR 09.12.66.05 says the inspection request goes in at least 30 days before anticipated operation. If the owner can't give 30 days, the regulation lets the owner submit the form with an explanation, and the Commissioner may grant it depending on state resources. The five-business-day period in that regulation applies to a different filing, the itinerary of scheduled locations and dates for a unit that already holds a certificate.

For a unit you have never registered, which clock does the Unit run, and what is the fastest it will schedule? Ask it.

$200,000, from an insurer the Commissioner accepts

Section 3-403 sets $200,000 as the floor for a ride that runs only on human power or gravity and for "any other amusement attraction." The section does not name inflatables. A mechanical ride must carry $350,000. The COMAR chapter repeats the $200,000 figure, "against liability for injury to an individual." The word is individual, though the department's registration page says "injury to persons." Whether that is a per-person minimum, a per-occurrence one or a total is not stated, so check before you assume a policy with a per-person sublimit fits.

The insurer must be "acceptable to the State Insurance Commissioner." The statute does not define acceptable, and nothing on the pages names a certificate holder or additional insured. The department says a certificate of insurance must reach the Commissioner before a certificate of inspection is issued.

No state fees

The same main page states "There is no fee for registering amusement attractions" and "There is no inspection fee," as read that day. Next to Tennessee's $150 permit or Kentucky's $105 for a first unit, that is a small gift. A county can still charge its own permit fee, and the permit guide covers the city and fire marshal layers above the state.

The 2026 chapter wrote wind and staffing rules into law

The department's notice says the legislature's regulatory review committee approved emergency adoption of new inflatable rules effective March 4, 2026, running until August 31, 2026, while proposed permanent rules went through comment. Its main page now refers to "recent amendments" to COMAR 09.12.66. The chapter on the state's regulations site lists in its administrative history a revision as an emergency provision effective March 4, 2026 and the provision "adopted" effective May 11, 2026, so the text below is the version carried past the emergency period.

• No operating when sustained wind reaches 15 mph, or on gusts of 3 seconds or longer at 25 mph or more. Lightning, a tornado watch or a severe storm predicted within 5 miles means unload and close the unit.
• Ground weights of at least 75 pounds for bounce-type units and at least 500 pounds per anchor position for slides over 15 feet. Stakes at least 36 inches long with 75 percent in the ground.
• Tie-downs should not attach to motor vehicles.
• A designated operator runs only one inflatable at a time. Units over 15 feet need at least one operator and one attendant. At a public fair with six castles, that means six trained operators.
• Daily pre-opening checklists signed and kept at least 30 days, and a written weather log for each setup.
• An injury log kept five years, certified each January 15. Deaths, hospital stays, amputations, compound fractures, broken teeth and loss of an eye are reported to the Commissioner within 24 hours, and the unit stays closed until inspected.

For units manufactured after January 1, 2026 the chapter applies ASTM F2374-22 on top of its own rules. For older units it skips four sections of the standard (5.5.5, 5.5.5.1, 5.13 and 6.1.3).

Montgomery County parks want $500,000 per person

County parks are public property, so the memo puts events there on the public side. Montgomery Parks' permit FAQ says inflatables need a Special Use Permit, requested at least seven business days ahead. The application takes a certificate of liability insurance naming M-NCPPC as a secondary insured at $1,000,000 per accident and $500,000 per person, plus photos of the equipment. A different answer on the same FAQ page, about getting a certificate, says "additional insured" with the same limits.

The state number is small and the park number is not. A $1,000,000 per-occurrence policy with a $500,000 per-person sublimit sits right at Montgomery's wording. The coverage page explains sublimits, and the additional insured guide shows how to get the certificate out the same day.

Inflatables needing a water connection are prohibited at all facilities, and Wheaton and Cabin John Regional Parks don't consider them without a Special Event request.