Gordon County, GA Sign Regulations: Holiday Displays (2026)

Gordon County Code § 13-6(b)(8) exempts special event or seasonal signs from the permit requirement. It covers sign displays that include any message, insignia, or depiction traditionally associated with the holiday or event celebrated or observed, including state, national, or international events. The policy statement that follows lists the depictions the county expects to allow: Santa Claus, nativity scenes, menorah, Easter bunnies, pumpkins, "Happy New Year" flags, and Fourth of July celebrations.

The clock is simple. Each allowed special event or seasonal display can continue for a thirty-day period in any one year. The exception is the Thanksgiving through New Year's season, which gets a sixty-day period.

Seasonal displays can include signs, banners, bunting, lighting, and ornamental objects that would not ordinarily be allowed under the sign article. That matters because § 13-4 otherwise prohibits banners except as specifically allowed, and § 13-3 defines bunting as a long colored strip of cloth or other pliable material with no commercial or noncommercial message, logo, or emblem that must be attached to the structure. No commercial message or copy is allowed in conjunction with the display.

Two limits apply to lighting. The lead-in to § 13-6(b) says no sign on that list in a residential zoning district shall be illuminated, and the code does not reconcile that sentence with the policy statement's reference to lighting, so a homeowner planning lights on a residential lot should ask Gordon County Planning and Development before installing anything elaborate. Section 13-5(h) also makes electrical signs and the devices that illuminate them subject to approval by the Gordon County Building Inspector, and requires listing by an approved testing laboratory. Displays cannot sit in a public right-of-way (§ 13-4(q)) or block sight lines in the block out zone, where anything above three feet is barred within 20 feet of an intersection (§ 13-5(e)).