Conn. Gen. Stat. » Title 21 — LICENSES · Chapter 408 — Hawkers and Peddlers
Connecticut General Statutes

Conn. Gen. Stat. § 21-37 (2026)

Town ordinances re vending, hawking or peddling. Permits and fees. Fees not required of certain veterans. Information concerning frozen dessert truck. Exceptions

✓ current as of May 2026
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(a) Any town may make reasonable ordinances with reference to the vending or hawking upon its public streets or upon any state highway, except limited access highways, within such town or any land abutting such streets or highways of any goods, wares or other merchandise at public or private sale or auction, or to the vending or peddling of such articles from house to house within its limits, including the imposition of a fee, not exceeding two hundred dollars a year, applicable with respect to any person engaged in such vending, hawking or peddling, for the privilege of so vending, hawking or peddling such merchandise. Any ordinance adopted pursuant to this section which requires a permit may require that no such permit shall be issued to any person who has not obtained a permit to engage in or transact business as a seller within the state in accordance with section 12-409 and shall require that any permit issued pursuant to such ordinance shall be conspicuously displayed at the place the activities are undertaken. Such ordinances may provide that the authority issuing such permit may waive the permit fee for a nonprofit organization exempt from federal taxation by Section 501 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, or any subsequent corresponding internal revenue code of the United States, as from time to time amended, or a charitable organization. No town shall require a permit fee from any resident of this state who has resided within the state for a period of two years next preceding the date of application for such permit, who is (1) a veteran who served in time of war, as defined in section 27-103, (2) a hawker or peddler, and (3) a principal pursuant to section 21-36.

(b) On and after July 15, 2021, any town that requires a person seeking to operate a frozen dessert truck within the limits of such municipality to obtain a permit pursuant to subsection (a) of this section shall include the link to the Internet web site published by the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles pursuant to section 14-283h on (1) the application for such permit, and (2) the Internet web site of the municipality. For the purposes of this subsection, “frozen dessert truck” has the same meaning as provided in section 14-283c.

(c) This section shall not apply to sales by farmers and gardeners of the produce of their farms, gardens and greenhouses, including fruit, vegetables and flowers, or to the sale, distribution and delivery of milk, teas, coffees, spices, groceries, meats and bakery goods, to sales on approval, to conditional sales of merchandise, or to the taking of orders for merchandise for future delivery when full payment is not required at the time of solicitation. Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit in any manner the Commissioner of Transportation's statutory authority concerning state highways. Nothing in this section shall be construed as empowering any municipality to prohibit, regulate, control or impose a fee on any person operating any business on any state highway or land abutting any state highway pursuant to a contract with the state.

(1949 Rev., S. 4684; 1957, P.A. 13, S. 91; P.A. 79-545; P.A. 84-289; P.A. 93-435, S. 88, 95; P.A. 95-281, S. 1; P.A. 02-137, S. 7; P.A. 21-20, S. 8.)

History: P.A. 79-545 raised from $25 to $250 limit on fee which may be imposed, applicable to any “person” rather than “team or vehicle” and exempted the taking of orders for merchandise for future delivery when full payment not required at time of solicitation; P.A. 84-289 inserted references to town control, and limits on town control, on state highways, provided that permits be issued only to persons with sales tax permits and that permits issued pursuant to this section be displayed; P.A. 93-435 specifically excluded from applicability of section sales of produce of greenhouses, including fruit, vegetables and flowers, effective June 28, 1993; P.A. 95-281 reduced fee cap to $200 and granted the issuing authority the power to waive the permit fee for nonprofit organizations (Revisor's note: A reference to “Transportation Commissioner's” authority was changed editorially by the Revisors to “Commissioner of Transportation's” authority for consistency with customary statutory usage); P.A. 02-137 provided that no town shall require a permit fee from certain veterans; P.A. 21-20 designated existing provisions re vending, hawking or peddling ordinances as Subsec. (a) and amended same to make a technical change, added Subsec. (b) re information concerning operation of frozen dessert truck on application for permit and municipal Internet web site and designated existing provisions re exceptions as Subsec. (c), effective July 1, 2021.

Ordinance must be reasonably definite and fee reasonable. 67 C. 29. Power to license lawful business to be strictly construed; milk dealers. Id., 541. Licensing of fruit peddlers by city ordinance upheld. 80 C. 478. Cited. 203 C. 14.

Cited. 4 CA 261.

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Notes of Decisions
Cited in 4 cases, 1985–2019 · leading case: Blue Sky Bar, Inc. v. Town of Stratford, 523 A.2d 467 (Conn. 1987).
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Blue Sky Bar, Inc. v. Town of Stratford, 523 A.2d 467 (Conn. 1987). · cites it 12× “The plaintiffs and the defendants agree that the resolution of this issue necessarily hinges upon the relationship between General Statutes §§ 21-37 5 and 7-148 (c) (7) (H) (iv).”
Cyr v. Vkb, LLC, 194 Conn. App. 871 (Conn. App. Ct. 2019). · cites it 5× “The defendants claimed that the applicable city ordinance (§ 21-37) shifted only the duty of repairing an abutting sidewalk from the municipality to an abutting landowner but did not shift liability for injuries resulting from an unsafe condition on the sidewalk.”
Blue Sky Bar, Inc. v. Town of Stratford, 493 A.2d 908 (Conn. App. Ct. 1985). · cites it 16× “2 I The resolution of the question of whether the defendants had the power to prohibit vending from motorized vehicles or, for that matter, to prohibit vending at all hinges upon the relationship between General Statutes §§ 21-37 and 7-148 (c) (7) (H) (iv).”
Greater New Haven Prop. Owners Ass'n v. City of New Haven, 951 A.2d 551 (Conn. 2008). · cites it 2× “, General Statutes § 14-12 (requiring registration of motor vehicles, definition of which includes trailers); General Statutes § 21-37 (authorizing municipalities to issue permits to peddlers); General Statutes § 14-67Í (motor vehicle recycler’s [junk dealer’s] license); General…”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.