Charles County, MD Sign Regulations: Holiday Displays (2026)

Section 297-320F sits inside Article XIX's list of signs that need neither a permit nor payment of a fee, the same list that covers political signs, small property-identification signs and window signs. The exemption is narrow in one respect and broad in another: it only covers displays that carry no commercial advertising, so a decorated storefront that promotes a sale or a specific product during the holidays could fall outside the carve-out and back into the standard permit process under § 297-319D. Within that limit, though, the exemption is generous, covering not just Christmas, Hanukkah or other seasonal lighting but any temporary special decorative display tied to holidays, public demonstrations, or the promotion of civic welfare or charitable purposes, without a stated time limit, square-footage cap or illumination restriction the way the code sets for political signs or special-event banners.

Because holiday displays are still signs under Article XIX, they remain subject to the article's general construction and safety rules in § 297-319E, meaning the display can't obstruct a window, door, fire escape, stairway or any required means of ingress or egress, and it must meet the Charles County Building Code's construction standards if it involves electrical work or a freestanding structure. An unsafe display can still be ordered fixed or removed by the Zoning Officer under the general unsafe-sign provision in § 297-319J.