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

Chapter 16, the county's Sign Regulations, otherwise controls the size, height, setback, illumination, and permitting of nearly every sign visible from a public right-of-way in unincorporated Whitfield County. Section 16-2 defines 'Holiday decorations' as signs and/or displays erected on a seasonal basis in observance of religious, national, state, or local holidays, and which are not intended to be permanent in nature. Section 16-3(3) then lists three sign types exempt from all of the chapter's restrictions: official signs, property address signs, and holiday decorations, meaning a holiday display does not need the permit that a 40-square-foot commercial sign would need under Section 16-6, is not bound by the freestanding-sign height and setback limits of Section 16-4(1), and is not subject to the chapter's general size caps.

The exemption is not unlimited, however: the definition itself requires the display to be seasonal and non-permanent, so a decoration left up year-round could fall outside the exemption and instead be measured against the ordinary sign standards for whatever zoning district it sits in. Nothing in Chapter 16 sets a maximum display period, a light-string wattage limit, or a fixed takedown deadline for holiday decorations; the only textual limit is that the display be seasonal and not intended to be permanent. The exemption sits alongside other exempt categories: official governmental signs, address signs, no-trespassing or no-smoking notices on private property, and, within residential zoning districts, subdivision entrance signs.