Grand opening banners at a glance
| Question | Short answer |
|---|---|
| Can I hang a banner before my permanent sign is up? | In most of these cities, only with a permit or for a limited time. Atlanta prohibits banners outside narrow exceptions, San Francisco’s neighborhood-commercial districts do not allow one, Sacramento’s sign handout lists banners as prohibited, Dallas generally does not allow temporary signs, and Columbus does not allow a banner as a temporary sign. |
| How long can it stay up? | From a 10-day period in Indianapolis to 60 days in Nashville, among the cities that set a limit. |
| Does a window banner count? | It can. In Chicago, a paper, fabric or vinyl window sign is exempt only for up to 60 days and only within the window coverage limit. |
What each city says
The bold line is the short answer; the rest is what the city page says, with its section numbers.
| City | Rule |
|---|---|
| Atlanta | Banners are prohibited except where §16-28A.012(a)(5) and §16-28A.007 allow them. Watch which rule you are reading. The 30-consecutive-days limit belongs to portable signs: §16-28A.007(a) permits them in C-1 through C-5, I-1, I-2, SPI-1 and SPI-9 districts “only for a period of time not exceeding 30 consecutive days within a 365 day period,” not to banners. Banners are prohibited by §16-28A.009(1) except as authorized in §16-28A.012(a)(5) and §16-28A.007, and a sign allowed in the right-of-way under §16-28A.012(a)(5) does require a permit (§16-28A.008(5)). Temporary signs, by contrast, need no permit at all under §16-28A.008(1) but carry the area limits in “Portable signs, temporary signs and sign lighting” below. The code defines a temporary sign as one displayed no more than 180 consecutive days. Signs inside a building, window signs included, need no permit under §16-28A.008(2), with one limit in §16-28A.007(q)(1): an illuminated or changing sign inside a window or door may cover no more than 30 percent of that window or door, must total less than 12 sq ft, and no one sign may exceed six square feet. Past those limits it is treated as an outside sign and needs a permit. |
| Austin | Certain temporary on-premise signs need no permit; a commercial sale or event sign gets 30 days. §25-10-102 lets certain temporary on-premise signs be "installed or modified without obtaining a permit or other approval from the City" — while still requiring compliance with the rest of Chapter 25-10 and the building code — and each kind carries its own clock. A holiday decoration gets 45 consecutive days, and no more than 90 days a year. A commercial sale or event sign gets 30 days. |
| Boston | Likely no permit as a temporary sign, up to 180 days and 32 sq ft; the code does not name banners. Article 11 exempts non-permanent temporary signs from a permit if each one is displayed for a maximum of 180 days or seven (7) days after the activity ends, whichever is less, with one per lot frontage, up to 32 square feet, at or below the second story and not internally illuminated ((§11-3(15))sect;11-3, item 15). The article does not say in so many words whether a fabric banner counts as one; a banner mounted as a projecting sign needs a permit (needs a permit (§11-7)sect;11-7). |
| Charlotte | No permit; one banner up to 32 sq ft for 14 consecutive days. No sign permit is needed. Banners are allowed for nonresidential uses in all zoning districts: one per establishment, up to 32 square feet outside the UC district, securely attached to a building wall, for at most 14 consecutive days with at least ten days between display periods (UDO 22.6.C). |
| Chicago | Only a paper, fabric or vinyl sign in a window, for no more than 60 days, is exempt from a permit. The exemption the city publishes for temporary signs is narrow: a temporary on-premise sign made wholly of paper, fabric, vinyl or similar material and attached to a window for no more than 60 days needs no permit, provided all signage in that window covers no more than 25% of the glazing. A banner outside those limits is not covered by that exemption. |
| Columbus | No banner may be used as a temporary sign. No. A temporary on-premises sign must be a rigid ground sign, and no banner may be used as a temporary sign; a temporary sign over 10 square feet needs a temporary permit (C.C. 3377.27). |
| Dallas | Temporary signs are generally not allowed in standard business and non-business zoning districts. Be careful here — Dallas generally does not allow temporary signs in standard business and non-business zoning districts, and won't issue permits for them there. Check your zoning before you hang anything. |
| Denver | No permit for up to 45 days. A banner with commercial advertising copy promoting a temporary event, sale or service of the business on the same lot needs no permit for up to 45 days; the zoning rules of DZC §10.10.3 still apply (Denver sign page). |
| Fort Worth | 30 consecutive days at most, one at a time, and a promotional banner generally needs a permit. Under the sign code, a temporary portable sign or banner is allowed for only 30 consecutive days, just one at a time, with at least 30 days between displays — and temporary signs are permitted only in the "CF" Community Facilities and "ER" Neighborhood Commercial Restricted or less restrictive districts, at no more than 60 sq ft, one per business (two per platted lot, three on lots with more than 300 ft of street frontage), and no temporary sign within 100 ft of another (§6.404). |
| Houston | Permit required; seven days in any 30-day period, 40 sq ft. A limited use banner needs a permit before it goes up: one per premises, no more than 40 square feet, attached flush against an exterior wall with no rope, shown on consecutive days for a maximum of seven days in any 30 day period, with a separate permit for each display period (Sign Code §4608(p); form CE-1436). |
| Indianapolis | Permit required; one banner for a 10-day period, three times a year. A permit is required. In Commercial, Central Business, Mixed-Use, Special Use and Industrial districts, one banner per use, up to 32 square feet and 6 ft high, not lit and not in the right-of-way, for no more than a 10-day period and no more than three times a calendar year (§744-910(A)). |
| Jacksonville | With a banner permit: up to 100 sq ft, for 30 days. With a banner permit. Banner signs may not exceed 100 sq ft, the permit is limited to 30 days, and they may not be attached to utility poles (§326.206). The city page adds that a banner counts as a ground or wall sign and against your signage allowance. |
| Las Vegas | With a temporary sign certificate, up to sixty days a year in total. In the City of Las Vegas, a grand opening banner is a special event sign: it needs a temporary sign certificate, is allowed in commercial and industrial districts, and may go up four times in any one calendar year for no more than sixty days in total (LVMC 19.08.120(G)). |
| Los Angeles | Not without a permit; up to 30 days at a time and 90 days in a calendar year. Not without a permit. LADBS lists temporary signs, pennants, banners, ribbons, streamers and spinners among the work that needs one. A temporary sign may stay up no more than 30 days, may not go back up for 30 days after removal, and may be up no more than 90 days in a calendar year. All temporary signs together are limited to 2 sq ft per foot of street frontage, and temporary signs in a window plus other window signs to 10% of the window area (P/BC 2023-078). |
| Miami | A banner promoting your opening is not on the list of signs exempt from permit. Special-event signs are Class A signs under Article 10, and they must comply with Chapter 62 of the City Code (§10.3.1); they are not automatically allowed. The city's list of signs exempt from permit covers address, notice, directional and warning signs (2 sq ft each), cornerstones and memorials, mail receptacles, one flag up to 25 sq ft, celebratory flags and banners in Regional Activity Complexes, vehicle signs and routine copy changes. Window signs, small temporary signs and a banner promoting your opening are not on that list. |
| Nashville | A business that is opening may display one for no more than 60 days or until its permanent signs are installed. Banners count as temporary signs (Metro Code 17.32.060). Outside one- to four-family residential lots, a lot may display one square foot of temporary signage per 10 feet of frontage, up to 32 sq ft, and no on-premises sign may exceed 10 ft in height. A business that is opening, changing use, changing location or going out of business may post one up to 30 days before that period and display it for no more than 60 days or until its permanent signs are installed. Temporary signs can't be electrical, electronic, or mechanical — and can't sit in the public right-of-way. |
| Philadelphia | One temporary sign per street frontage needs no zoning permit, up to 12 sq ft per face in a Commercial, Industrial or Special Purpose district. §14-903(2) lets you place one temporary sign per street frontage without a zoning permit: up to 12 sq ft per face in a Commercial, Industrial or Special Purpose district and six sq ft in a Residential district. Anything larger, or a second one on the same frontage, needs a zoning permit. Whether your banner counts as a temporary sign turns on the Code’s definitions in §14-203, which we have not read. |
| Phoenix | Yes, with a permit: one per street front, for no more than fourteen days. Yes, with a permit and for a short time. Under §705.D.10.c a grand-opening or temporary business identification sign is limited to one sign per street front and may stay up for no more than fourteen days. It may be a banner or balloons, but not an A-frame, pennants or streamers, and it may not encroach into the right-of-way. |
| Sacramento | The city’s sign handout lists banners as prohibited. The city's sign handout lists canvas signs and banners, and pennants, streamers, bunting and wind signs, as prohibited (City of Sacramento CDD-0295 "What is a Sign?" (Revised 09-08-2026)). §15.148.600(E)(2)(a) separately exempts temporary signs in an SC, HC, C or M zone up to 50 sq ft in total per parcel; ask Community Development how a grand-opening banner is treated before you hang one. |
| San Antonio | Owner and city approval first; ten days in historic districts. A banner on a facade must follow the permanent sign placement rules and needs property owner and Development Services approval before it goes up (§28-74). On a historic landmark or in a historic district, grand opening signs may stay up no more than ten (10) days and, unless more is authorized, no larger than thirty-two (32) square feet (UDC §35-612). |
| San Diego | No separate sign permit for a temporary onsite banner. Temporary onsite banners, streamers and pennants are on the city’s list of installations that need no separate sign permit (Information Bulletin 111). |
| San Francisco | Not under §607.1 in the neighborhood-commercial districts. Not under §607.1 in the neighborhood-commercial districts. Its temporary-sign rule allows one sale-or-lease sign or one sign naming the firms on a building under construction (§607.1(g)), and any sign not specifically regulated in §607.1 is prohibited (§607.1(b)). Signs that need no permit are listed in §604(c), and signs Article 6 does not apply to at all in §603; both lists are set out in “When San Francisco does not require a sign permit” below. Article 6 does cap window signs at one-third of the window area. |
| Seattle | Four 14-day periods a year, in all zones. Commercial messages, banners included, may be displayed for four 14-consecutive-day periods a calendar year in all zones; temporary signs not made of rigid material may total 100 sq ft per building lot, no single one over 36 sq ft, and none may be placed on public property (SMC 23.55.012). |
Cities not listed
For the other cities we cover, the city page does not yet state a banner rule we could tie to the code, so this page says nothing about them. Ask the zoning office before you hang one.
Each answer is taken from the city page, which links the code text it was read from. Confirm with the city before you order the banner.
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