High Point, NC Sign Regulations: Holiday Displays (2026)
Key Facts
- Permit needed
- None for holiday lights/decorations
- Timing
- Must be temporary, around a holiday
- Governing list
- § 5.7.7.B, 8 exempt sign categories
- Electrical safety
- Still subject to State Building Code
- Unpermitted non-exempt sign penalty
- $50 first violation
Summary
High Point exempts holiday lights and decorations from the sign permit process altogether. Development Ordinance Section 5.7.7.B.1 lists lights and decorations temporarily displayed on dates around holidays among 8 categories of signs allowed without a permit, alongside hand-carried signs, government signs, and interior signs not legible from outside a building.
B.Other Signs Allowed Without a Sign Permit 1.Lights and decorations that are temporarily displayed on dates around holidays;2.Hand carried signs;3.Signs affixed to a vehicle where the vehicle is used on a regular basis for the normal transport of goods or persons;4.Signs not legible from a street or another zone lot;5.Signs painted on an active public water tower, with permission of the tower operator;6.Signs on the interior of a building, courtyard, athletic field, or other building or structure which are not designed or oriented in a manner to be legible from the exterior of the building or structure;7.Signs erected by or on behalf of the City of High Point, Guilford County, the State of North Carolina, or the United States federal government; and8.Signs applied to an umbrella.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Code of Ordinances: Supplement 9 | Development Ordinance: Supplement 14).
Full Breakdown
C states that any sign not expressly allowed under the Section, or under state law, is prohibited. A. Subsection B, Other Signs Allowed Without a Sign Permit, lists 8 categories exempt outright, and the first is holiday lighting: lights and decorations that are temporarily displayed on dates around holidays. The same subsection exempts hand-carried signs, signs affixed to a vehicle used regularly to transport goods or persons, signs not legible from a street or another zone lot, signs painted on an active public water tower with the operator's permission, interior signs not oriented to be legible from outside a building, signs erected by the City of High Point, Guilford County, the State of North Carolina, or the federal government, and signs applied to an umbrella.
A, the ordinance does not print a numeric size, height, or day-count limit for holiday lighting the way it does for weekend signs (removed by noon Monday) or A-frame signs (removed daily at close of business); the only textual constraint is that the display be temporary and tied to a holiday date. B still requires that any sign, permitted or exempt, comply with the State Building Code, which reaches electrical safety for lighted displays. The exemption applies to holiday displays anywhere within High Point, North Carolina city limits, across all four counties the city spans.
Violations & Fines
A holiday display that is not temporary, is unrelated to any holiday, or otherwise functions as a permanent or commercial sign falls outside the Section 5.7.7.B.1 exemption and needs a sign permit like any other sign under Section 5.7.4.C. Displaying it without one is a violation under Section 9.3.1, Development without Authorization, subject to civil penalties starting at $50 and escalating to $500 per day under Section 9.9.5.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need a sign permit for Christmas lights in High Point?
Is there a size or time limit on holiday lighting displays?
Can my holiday display run year-round?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in High Point
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