ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area Article 525-Carnivals, Circuses, Fairs etc

If this is a 525 or 527 application, GFCI or an assured equipment grounding program is required. An assured equipment grounding program would be almost impossible to implement for the application, that only leaves GFCI protection.
The code could use some clarification in this type of installation. Doc has correctly made the point that the change in 520 was indented to apply to large traveling shows, but that is not what the words in the definition of "performance area" say. You can make a case to apply 520, 525 or 527 to the application. Two of these would require GFCI protection.
Don