As we get closer and closer to New Years, holiday decorations have begun to spring up in every imaginable place, from apartment buildings, to office spaces, to ambulances. And while holiday decorations can bring joy, commerce, and fun to your community, they can also potentially bring lawsuits and fires. Here are some resources from the Knowledge Network and beyond to help you shape your holiday decorating policies:

• Looking for the legal background on which to base your holiday rulemaking? Check out either the Missouri Municipal Review’s or the Pew Forum’s legal backgrounders on holiday decorations on public property.
• Are your residents putting up holiday displays on public lands? Get the scoop on what you can and can’t do to stop them from the folks at Municipal Minute.
• Perhaps as important as legal considerations, holiday decorations should be inclusive for your whole community. The University of Mary Washington has some great ideas about how to make that happen.
• Worried your holiday decorations will go up in flames (literally)? Many thanks to the Fulton County Fire Rescue Department for publishing these fire prevention guidelines.

Does your community have holiday decorating guidelines? If so, would you be willing to share them on the Knowledge Network?