Stearns County, MN Garage & Yard Sales: Frequency, Duration & Permits (2026)

30 of Land Use and Zoning Ordinance No. 439 regulates temporary uses and special events in every zoning district of unincorporated Stearns County, and garage sales are the first item on that list. 1 limits garage sales at a residential location to a total of ten days of operation per calendar year; the limit is cumulative across however many separate sales a household holds, not ten days per sale. The same section of the ordinance sets comparable caps for other short-term activities on the same property: temporary storage of construction materials or buildings can stay for the duration of a project or one year, whichever is shorter; temporary amusement events and tents run up to fifteen days a year and, in residential districts, are limited to institutional or public property and must also comply with the county's separate Large Gathering Ordinance No.

254; and promotional outdoor sales and displays in commercial or industrial districts get up to thirty days a year. 30 gives the Director authority to approve other similar temporary uses for up to fifteen days a year if they resemble the activities already listed. None of these temporary-use allowances requires a separate construction site permit, but they still have to comply with whatever zoning-district regulations otherwise apply to the property, and the Environmental Services Department can step in if a sale or event runs past its allotted days.