Elgin, IL Holiday Decorations: Lawn Ornament Rules (2026)

14 ('Holiday Decorations') to its adopted Property Maintenance Code through Ordinance No. 020 of the Elgin Municipal Code. The provision covers decorations that are 'clearly incidental, customary, and commonly associated with a national, local, or religious holiday,' and it is unusually permissive by design: such displays 'may be of any type, number, area, height, location, illumination or animation,' meaning the city does not cap the number of lawn ornaments, their footprint, their height or whether they light up or move. The only two limits are duration and purpose.

On duration, the decorations may be displayed for 'not more than sixty (60) days within a calendar year,' which the property owner can use however they choose across the year's holidays rather than a fixed window tied to one holiday. On purpose, the section explicitly bars using 'holiday decoration or sign' for advertising, meaning a display that promotes a business or product loses the exemption's protection even if it is holiday-themed. 14 sits in the Property Maintenance Code rather than the zoning or sign code, it functions as an exception to the property maintenance rules that otherwise govern what may sit on a residential lot (such as the outdoor storage and groundcover sections that immediately surround it in the same chapter), rather than as a separate permitting scheme. 12.