Broomfield, CO Sign Regulations: Holiday Displays (2026)

Section 17-44-050(S) defines 'holiday or seasonal decorations' broadly, as signs or displays, including lighting, that are non-permanent installations celebrating national, state, and local holidays, religious or cultural holidays, or other holiday seasons. That definition matters because section 17-44-060(F) otherwise bans flashing signs, lights, and beacon lighting anywhere in the city, a sign with an intermittent or flashing light source, or one that creates the illusion of flashing through animation, but specifically excludes holiday and seasonal decorations, meaning flashing string lights and similar seasonal displays are carved out of that prohibition while ordinary flashing signage remains prohibited outright.

Section 17-44-090(B) then confirms holiday and seasonal decorations are exempt from the sign permit process altogether, and are not counted toward the type, number, or area of permanent signs allowed on a property, on one condition: the display cannot be shown for a period of more than sixty consecutive days. A homeowner or business that leaves holiday lighting up past that sixty-day window loses the exemption, and the display becomes subject to the ordinary permit, area, and flashing-light rules that apply to any other sign in the applicable zone district, whether residential or commercial.

Because the exemption sits in the permit-exempt list rather than the prohibited-signs list, the city treats an overdue holiday display as a compliance problem to correct rather than a sign that was unlawful from the moment it went up.