A town that kicks off the season with a parade of lit floats on State Street should have its homes and shops glowing to match.
Few towns start the holidays as brightly as Kennett Square. The Holiday Light Parade fills State Street with illuminated floats on the Saturday before Thanksgiving, and the night ends with Santa lighting the town tree. A few weeks later, a giant lit mushroom drops at State and Union Streets to ring in the new year. In between, the borough's shops, restaurants and homes do their best to keep up.
We help with that. Our Christmas light installation in Kennett Square covers houses in the borough and the townships around it, permanent lighting for people who want the house lit all year in the colors they pick, season-long lighting for businesses on State Street and event lighting for parties of every kind. Quotes are free; just tell us what you want lit.
Kennett Square is known as the Mushroom Capital of the World, and the farms around it grow a huge share of the country's mushrooms. The borough at its center is compact and walkable, which means that in December a lot of people see your house or your shop up close, on foot. Small touches count on a street like that: lit railings, a wrapped porch column, a neat row of lights along the shop window.
With the parade, the shopping season and New Year's Eve all centered on State Street, December is a big month downtown. Windows, doorways, signs and building fronts can be lit for the whole season. Ask about takedown when you request your quote.
From a December dinner party to a New Year's Eve gathering or a winter wedding, we set up string lights, bistro lights and lit trees or pathways for the night, then take them down afterward. Tell us the date, the space and the feel you are after, and we will suggest a setup to match. For a small gathering, a run of bistro lights over a patio or porch is often all it takes.
We hang seasonal lights on your home with clips, never nails or staples, keep them on the house through the holidays and come back after the season to take them down and store them.
A permanent system sits along the trim all year, close enough to the house that it is easy to miss in daylight, which suits older homes where looks matter all year. Many systems let you change colors from an app.
The Holiday Light Parade comes early. It is held on the Saturday before Thanksgiving, run by Kennett Collaborative, with crowds in the thousands lining State Street from Mill Road to Broad Street. That is a week or more before many people even start thinking about their own lights.
If you want your house or your business lit for parade night, call as early as you can; earlier bookings have more install dates to choose from. Businesses on the route, in particular, get more eyes on their front that evening than on almost any other night of the year.
The same lights carry right through to New Year's Eve, when Midnight in the Square brings people back downtown for the mushroom drop. A shop lit in November is still lit for the last big night of the season.
For a borough house set close to the street, the lights are seen from the sidewalk, often by people walking into town. Even, tidy lines along the gutters and porch, with the railings or columns wrapped, give a polished look on a compact front. Wrapping porch columns and railings in mini lights brings the light down to eye level for people walking past, which matters on a street people see on foot.
Beyond the borough, homes with a Kennett Square address can sit on wide lots among fields and woods, with long lanes and big trees. Those properties suit bigger displays: C9 bulbs along every eave line, a wrapped tree or two near the road and lit fence posts or a lamp post along the drive. Longwood Gardens is only a few miles away, and its Christmas display has a way of inspiring people to light their own trees.
Out on a country property, a timer is a real help, since the switch for the tree at the end of the lane is a long walk on a cold night. Ask about adding a timer: it can switch the display on at dusk and off at a time you choose. A lit post at the end of a long lane also helps visitors find the turn on a dark winter evening.
Whichever describes your place, the lights come with the job, so there is nothing to buy and no tangle of strands to find room for once the season ends. A seasonal home install includes takedown and storage, and next year you are free to try a different look.
Yes, if you book early enough. The parade is held on the Saturday before Thanksgiving, earlier than many people expect. Call as early as you can; earlier bookings have more install dates to choose from.
Yes. Storefronts, restaurant fronts, windows, doorways and signs can be lit for the whole season. Lights put up in November stay on through the parade, the shopping weekends and New Year's Eve.
Yes. We light events of any kind, including New Year's Eve parties, holiday dinners, weddings and company events. We set up string lights, bistro lights and lit trees or pathways for the night and take them down afterward.
Yes. We light homes with a Kennett Square address both inside the borough and in the townships around it. Bigger properties often suit larger displays, with lit trees near the road and lights along a lane or fence line.
In the trade, commercial lighting usually means a display for a business: storefronts, signs, entrances and building fronts, often planned around busy shopping days. Commercial displays need to look right for the whole season, through long evenings of foot traffic. Residential lighting is planned around a home and how it looks from the street. We do both, and on State Street the shop and the owner's house can be lit in the same booking.
It depends on the length of the lines being lit, the height of the building, how many trees and shrubs are included, the bulb style and color, and timers. A compact borough front and a farmhouse on a long lane are very different jobs, so each one gets its own free quote.