Appeals Court Strikes Down Alameda County Law That Made It Illegal to Even Watch a Sideshow

The article was originally published on https://sfist.com/2025/09/05/appeals-court-strikes-down-alameda-county-law-that-made-it-illegal-to-even-watch-a-sideshow/People who gather to watch sideshows garnered an unusual legal win, as the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals just did donuts all over Alameda County’s law saying that it’s a crime to even watch a sideshow, and they struck that law down. City governments all over the Bay Area have been grasping at straws for ways they can discourage or prevent sideshows from happening nigh every weekend during the warm-weather months. Alameda County even went so far in 2023 as to pass a law that made it illegal to even watch a sideshow, or in the law’s words, to “knowingly spectate” within 200 feet of a sideshow. Violators could be hit with three month