Bessemer, AL Sign Regulations: Garage Sale Signs (2026)

Section 22-118 of Chapter 22, Article IV (Garage and Yard Sales) governs advertising for any garage sale, rummage sale or yard sale within Bessemer's corporate limits, defined in Section 22-115 as the sale of surplus household property or of goods for a religious, charitable, civic or service organization. Subsection (a) caps any yard sign at six square feet and bans illuminated or animated signs outright. Timing is also fixed: no sign may go up earlier than one day before the sale starts, and every sign must come down no later than the day after the sale's last day.

Subsection (b) bars advertising a garage, rummage or yard sale on public property altogether, meaning signs cannot be staked in medians, planted at street corners, or attached to utility poles or public right-of-way. The sign rule sits alongside the rest of Article IV's permit scheme: Section 22-116 requires a permit from the license department before any sale, plus a fee and a list of participating property owners, and Section 22-117 limits any household to one sale every six months and caps a single sale at three consecutive days, held at the permittee's residence or an approved organizational site.

Because the sign, permit and duration rules are enforced together, a seller who obtains a permit but ignores the sign limits is still violating the article.