20 Towns With One Weird Local Law
Local ordinances often reflect a community’s unique history, peculiar problems, or simply the eccentric whims of town officials from bygone eras. While most municipal codes contain standard regulations about noise levels and parking restrictions, some towns maintain bizarrely specific laws that leave visitors scratching their heads.
These legal oddities survive on the books despite changing times, serving as quirky reminders of small-town individuality across America. Here is a list of 20 towns with genuinely strange local laws that somehow never got repealed.
Devon, Connecticut
In this coastal New England town, walking backward after sunset is strictly prohibited unless you’re wearing reflective clothing. The law originated in the 1930s after several accidents involving people retreating from waterfront views while trying to maintain their ocean gaze.
Local police rarely enforce this regulation but occasionally remind summer tourists about it during busy holiday weekends. Longtime residents embrace the quirky rule as part of their town’s unique character despite its practical absurdity.
Carmel-by-the-Sea, California
It is well known that this charming seaside town forbids, without a special authorization, the wearing of shoes with heels higher than two inches. Enacted in 1963, the ordinance shielded the city from litigation stemming from trips and falls on uneven pavements.
A waiver acknowledging the dangers of walking Carmel’s historic cobblestone streets in stylish shoes must be obtained at City Hall by anyone who wants to wear higher heels. During his time in office in the 1980s, former mayor Clint Eastwood contributed to raising awareness of this peculiar rule.
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Skamania County, Washington
In this rural Pacific Northwest county, killing Bigfoot is a felony that carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. During the height of the Sasquatch craze in 1969, county commissioners passed the protection law out of concern that aggressive hunters would hurt visitors or one another while hunting the fabled animal.
The ordinance forbids any attempt to kill the cryptid and formally declares Bigfoot to be an endangered species. This law is welcomed by local companies since it promotes the Sasquatch tourism industry, which is booming in the area.
Walnut, California
In this Los Angeles County suburb, a special permit is needed to play miniature golf after 11 p.m. When late-night mini-golf events supposedly turned into boisterous gathering places for teens in the 1950s, the peculiar rule was born.
Town officials made a compromise by implementing this permission system, which essentially put a halt to after-hours putting, rather than completely outlawing the practice. Even though Walnut’s final miniature golf course closed almost twenty years ago, the law is still in effect today.
Overthrust, Wyoming
In this small mining town, it’s illegal to take a lion to the movie theater even if you’ve purchased a ticket for your feline companion. The ordinance dates back to 1953 when a traveling circus performer attempted to bring his trained lion to a film screening as a publicity stunt.
Though the theater owner initially agreed to the arrangement, other patrons understandably objected to sharing their entertainment experience with a predator. The town council quickly passed the ban which has remained on the books despite the obvious impracticality.
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Beanville, Ohio
Residents must wave and smile at everyone they encounter on Main Street during business hours or face a $10 fine for ‘community unfriendliness.’ This unusual mandate began in 1976 as part of the town’s bicentennial celebration when officials wanted to create the reputation of being ‘America’s Friendliest Small Town.’
Though rarely enforced today, the law technically remains valid and occasionally appears on tourism brochures. Local shopkeepers embrace the tradition even without legal obligation, making the downtown genuinely welcoming despite the forced nature of the original ordinance.
Pocatello, Idaho
Until 2018, it was technically illegal not to smile in this southeastern Idaho city thanks to a 1948 law enacted to boost community morale after a particularly harsh winter. The ‘Smile Ordinance’ required citizens to maintain a pleasant demeanor at all times within city limits.
Mayor Brian Blad officially repealed this unenforceable regulation during a ceremony featuring deliberately frowning attendees. The bizarre law gained national attention after being featured in several compilations of strange American regulations despite never resulting in actual citations.
Monowi, Nebraska
In America’s smallest incorporated municipality, it’s illegal for residents not to vote in local elections. The peculiarity of this law becomes apparent when you realize Monowi has exactly one resident, Elsie Eiler, who serves as mayor, treasurer, librarian, and sole voter.
Eiler faithfully maintains all legal requirements including holding elections where she casts the only ballot. The town’s population peaked at 150 in the 1930s but gradually declined until Eiler’s husband died in 2004, leaving her as the lone citizen maintaining this uniquely American municipal anomaly.
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Point Roberts, Washington
This geographical oddity prohibits bringing maple leaves across the town border due to its unusual location. Situated on a peninsula that can only be accessed by crossing through Canada or taking a boat, Point Roberts requires residents to follow both American and Canadian customs regulations.
The maple leaf restriction specifically targets Canadian currency and symbols rather than actual foliage. Local schoolchildren receive special permission to attend classes in mainland Washington, passing through international borders four times daily with specialized identification cards.
Honey Creek, Iowa
Operating a kayak without a bell is strictly forbidden on local waterways in this rural midwestern community. The peculiar law emerged after a 1987 collision between a silent kayaker and the mayor’s fishing boat.
Rather than admit fault, the official pushed through legislation requiring noise-making devices on all watercraft regardless of size or propulsion method. Locals have turned this regulatory oddity into a point of pride, holding an annual ‘Bell Armada’ where participants decorate their kayaks with increasingly elaborate bell arrangements that transform the creek into a musical procession.
Marfa, Texas
This artsy West Texas town prohibits anyone from feeding tumbleweeds to giraffes within city limits. The remarkably specific ordinance was enacted in 1952 following an incident involving a traveling circus and its poorly supervised exotic animals.
While the town hasn’t hosted giraffes in decades, the law remains intact as removing it would require navigating bureaucratic procedures deemed unnecessary for an effectively irrelevant restriction. Modern residents embrace the bizarre regulation as perfectly capturing their community’s eccentric artistic identity.
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Kennesaw, Georgia
This Atlanta suburb made headlines by requiring every household to maintain at least one firearm along with proper ammunition. Passed in 1982 as a symbolic response to a handgun ban in Morton Grove, Illinois, the law includes exemptions for those who oppose gun ownership, have criminal records, or cannot afford weapons.
Despite its provocative nature, the ordinance functions primarily as a political statement rather than an actively enforced requirement. City officials have never conducted inspections or issued citations for non-compliance in the law’s four-decade history.
Ocean City, New Jersey
This family-friendly beach destination famously prohibits hot dog sales on Sundays, a restriction dating back to local blue laws in the 1920s. The peculiar specificity targeting only hot dogs while allowing other food sales reflects the influence of early religious leaders who objected to the supposedly undignified nature of eating tubular meat in public on the Sabbath.
Modern vendors work around this restriction by referring to their Sunday offerings as ‘beach franks’ or ‘boardwalk sausages’ while maintaining identical ingredients and preparation methods.
Severance, Colorado
Until 2018, throwing snowballs was technically illegal in this northern Colorado town due to an outdated ordinance prohibiting throwing missiles at people or property. The law remained unchallenged until 9-year-old Dane Best successfully petitioned the town board to create an exemption for snowballs.
In a civic lesson gone wonderfully right, Best presented logical arguments for recreational snow-throwing while maintaining safety considerations. Following his presentation, the board unanimously approved the change, officially permitting snowball fights for the first time in town history.
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Natoma, Kansas
This small prairie town requires all business signs to be written in English rather than ‘American’ as specified in a 1921 ordinance aimed at distinguishing proper language from slang. The law has never been enforced but survives as a linguistic curiosity representing post-World War I nationalism.
Town historians note that the regulation emerged during a period of heightened patriotism when many communities sought to distance themselves from European influences. Modern officials maintain the peculiar wording as a historical artifact despite its obviously flawed linguistic premise.
Quitman, Georgia
In this southern town, chickens are legally allowed to cross roads without explanation for their motivations. The humorous ordinance was passed in 1982 when a retiring town clerk with a notorious fondness for jokes slipped the provision into routine municipal code updates.
Upon discovery years later, amused council members voted to maintain the regulation as a point of local pride. The town has since embraced the chicken-crossing theme with an annual festival featuring poultry-themed activities and merchandise bearing the slogan ‘Their Reasons Are Their Own.’
Bellingham, Washington
Women are technically forbidden from doing the ‘shimmy’ dance within city limits according to an unenforced 1920s ordinance targeting flapper-era dance moves. The law specified that female dancers must maintain ‘proper decorum’ and avoid excessive shoulder and hip movements deemed provocative by concerned citizens of the era.
Local performance groups occasionally hold ‘illegal dance parties’ as fundraisers where participants deliberately violate this outdated restriction. These events typically raise money for women’s organizations while playfully highlighting the absurdity of regulating female movement.
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Acworth, Georgia
Placing a sub sandwich on a city sidewalk is specifically prohibited under local ordinances designed to maintain community aesthetics. The unusually specific regulation emerged in the 1990s after repeated incidents involving a promotional mascot for a sandwich chain who would place giant foam sandwich props on sidewalks as advertisements.
Rather than create broader restrictions on sidewalk obstructions, officials targeted the specific nuisance with remarkably narrow language. Local sandwich shops now jokingly advertise their products as ‘legally contained within premises at all times.’
St. Croix, Minnesota
Residents are forbidden from entering Wisconsin while wearing a duck on their heads according to a never-repealed 1943 regulation. The law originated during a border dispute involving taxation of waterfowl used in hunting demonstrations.
Wisconsin officials had threatened to confiscate any ducks brought across state lines while Minnesota leaders responded with increasingly absurd counter-regulations. Though both states resolved their differences decades ago, this peculiar restriction remains officially on the books despite the obvious impracticality of enforcement.
Oxford, Alabama
Performing mathematics in public spaces is technically prohibited though the restriction specifically targets fortune tellers and sidewalk gamblers. The ordinance bans ‘performing calculations to predict future events or determine probability outcomes for monetary gain’ in an attempt to prevent street gambling without explicitly mentioning games of chance.
Local students occasionally challenge the regulation by organizing ‘illegal math-ins’ where they deliberately solve equations in parks while collecting donations for education programs. These good-natured protests highlight the unintended consequences of vaguely worded prohibitions.
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When Laws Outlast Logic
These peculiar municipal regulations serve as reminders that legal systems often preserve outdated solutions to forgotten problems. While most bizarre local laws remain unenforced curiosities, they reveal how communities codify their unique histories, concerns, and sometimes simply their sense of humor into legal frameworks.
Beyond providing amusing trivia, these regulations offer glimpses into American towns grappling with everything from religious values to technological changes. Perhaps there’s wisdom in occasionally preserving these legal oddities rather than removing them entirely – they connect us to our quirky municipal histories while reminding us that sometimes the most interesting local stories are hidden in the fine print of town ordinances.
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