Commercial Holiday Lighting · Kitchener

Commercial Holiday Lighting in Kitchener

Downtown Kitchener's busiest stretch of the year runs through the Christkindl weekends, when the City expects more than 100,000 people around City Hall. A storefront that wants to be lit for that has to be done in November.

Commercial work is scheduled ahead of the residential rush, from late October, so properties are lit for the first December weekend. Each property is quoted after a site visit, with the scope, schedule, maintenance and removal written down.

Who it is for

• Downtown storefronts. King Street and the blocks around City Hall and the Market district. Window frames, awnings, upper cornices and planters, planned around tenants above and the sidewalk below.
• Plazas and strip retail. Signage bands, columns and parking-lot trees along Fairway, Highland, Ottawa Street and Fischer-Hallman.
• Offices and converted factories. Entrance canopies, lobbies visible from the street and courtyard trees in the converted industrial buildings around the Innovation District.
• Condominium and townhouse complexes. Entrance features, clubhouses, common trees and roofline accents, approved by the board.

Condos and boards

Downtown Kitchener has added a great many condominium towers and townhouse complexes, and in most of them roofs, soffits and exterior walls are common elements. That means the board or the property manager authorizes holiday lighting, not an individual owner. Quotes for complexes go to the board with the insurance certificate it will ask for.

Safety on commercial sites

Commercial installs often mean lifts, work above sidewalks and parking, and higher roofs. Work above three metres is done with fall protection under Ontario's construction regulation, sidewalks are kept clear, and power is planned with the property's electrician where existing exterior circuits will not carry the load. All product is outdoor-rated and certified.

Through the season

Service calls are included: a dead section on a storefront is fixed promptly, weather permitting. Removal is scheduled in January and storage is available.

Design for a street, not a house

A storefront is seen from across King Street, from a car at a light, and from the sidewalk a metre away, so the design works at all three distances: a clean outline of the window and the upper cornice that reads from the road, and planters, garland or a lit doorway that work up close. On older downtown buildings the masonry and cornices are treated as a heritage house would be, clipped and tied, not drilled. Plazas are planned around the parking lot: lights on columns and signage bands stay above the reach of plows and trucks, and cords never cross a drive aisle. For offices and condo lobbies the aim is usually restraint, warm white and evergreen, lit on a timer that matches the building's hours.

Frequently asked questions

Serving Kitchener and surrounding areas. Contact us for a no-obligation quote specific to your property.