‘‘How long before the cops show up?” I ask when I meet up with Aaron Milligan-Green and the Jungle Love Orchestra.

Blowing horns and banging an oil drum on the weedy tracks in Railroad Square, they’re playing everything from a New Orleans marching band number called “Ain’t My Fault” to Fela Kuti’s “Coffin for the Head State.”

I was really only half-joking about the cops, but when you consider the lively rag-tag street band has been repeatedly shut down and fined by Santa Rosa police wherever they play in downtown Santa Rosa, it’s really only a matter of time.

At issue is the Santa Rosa city code known as “Noise Ordinance: 17-16.090 Drums and other Instruments.” It reads: “It is unlawful for any person to use any drum or other instrument or device of any kind for the purpose of attracting attention by the creation of noise within the City.”

Over the past year, the dreadlocked Milligan-Green has taken the struggle to the people, collecting around 2,500 signatures on a petition to overturn the ordinance. But this weekend, he’s trying something different.

“The Renegade Art Revival in a nutshell is a critical mass of artists and performers of all types and people who support the cause, attempting to bring a bit of street life back here to Sonoma County, specifically Santa Rosa,” he says.

“It’s the largest city between San Francisco and Portland, yet the downtown is completely sterile. Someone described it as a beige aggregate city and I thought that was a perfect description. We’re just trying to bring a bit of color to the beige aggregate city.”

The celebration of arts and First Amendment rights kicks off in Railroad Square at noon Saturday, marching along Third Street to Courthouse Square for a party with musicians, jugglers, dancers, painters, poets and puppeteers.

But getting back to the show: On this evening, as the Jungle Love Orchestra plays into dusk on the railroad tracks between Aroma Roasters and the Flying Goat cafes, a couple passing on bikes stops, dismounts and dances to a couple of songs before moving on. Two hikers walking by with backpacks stop and take pictures. A guy sitting at a table outside the Flying Goat can’t stop tapping his foot.

Eventually, two Santa Rosa parking officers drop by on their beat. One of them warns the band, “If the police come by, they’ll probably ask you to move on,” later adding, “You need a permit to play music in public.”

Milligan-Green points out that they’re not actually on public property but instead private land owned by SMART – Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit.

But the band was winding down anyway. They start packing up their instruments. No use in getting fined again before the big show on Saturday.