Chicopee, MA Garage & Yard Sales: Frequency, Duration & Permits (2026)

Chapter 244 of the Code of the City of Chicopee was adopted by the Board of Aldermen (now City Council) on 12-18-2007 by Ord. No. 07-84, with an effective date of 3-31-2008. Section 244-1 defines a tag sale to include a cellar sale, garage sale, lawn sale, rummage sale, attic sale, yard sale, estate sale or equivalent: the sale of new or used items offered for sale, barter or trade to the general public when conducted in whole or in part in a residential zone.

Section 244-3 sets the annual cap. A sale can be conducted only from the owner's primary residence or from the primary location of a nonprofit organization, and no more than three can be conducted from the same residence per calendar year in a residential zone. The section adds that more than three tag sales would violate the Zoning Ordinance, and its editor's note points to Chapter 275, Zoning.

Section 244-2 sets duration and hours. A sale can run no more than a continuous seventy-two-hour period, sale hours are limited to 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and all items must be removed at the end of the seventy-two-hour period and secured in the owner's primary residence. Section 244-4 bars notices, advertising signs or directional signs on utility poles or street signs and requires signs to be removed at the end of the seventy-two-hour period.

Section 244-5 makes the Building Inspector's office, as the Zoning office, the enforcer. Under § 244-6, a violation results in a fine of $50 pursuant to Chapter 132 (Code Enforcement), and a person commits a separate offense for each and every day a violation continues. The count is by residence and calendar year, so a household that has held three sales by December cannot add a fourth, and the count starts over with the new calendar year.