Churches, private schools and community buildings tend to decorate the same way every year: volunteers on ladders in late November, strands that half-work, and a second round of ladder work in January. Permanent JellyFish lights mounted under the eaves and canopy soffits replace all of that with a system that’s installed once and run from a phone. KWLE (Keywest Lights & Electric) handles these projects in Pinellas, Hillsborough and Pasco. Our firm is woman-owned, holds state license EC13014717, and sells JellyFish as an authorized dealer rather than as the manufacturer. Call 727-476-7079.
Request a quote
Tell us what you need and where you are. A licensed electrician will call or text you back to set a time. For an emergency, call (727) 476-7079, 24/7.
Why ministries and schools switch
- Volunteer safety: the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission reports about 160 holiday decorating injuries a day in the season, nearly half from falls. Keeping volunteers off ladders removes the biggest risk.
- Consistency: the building looks the same every year, regardless of who’s on the decorating team.
- Every season: Advent, Christmas, Easter and school colors all come from the same lights.
- Energy: federal energy data credits LEDs with savings of as much as 90% over incandescent.
Where the lights go
Track mounts under the eaves, soffits and covered-walkway canopies, and along any gable rake. It never goes on the roof, the steeple or the bell tower. On a church, that usually means the eave line of the sanctuary, the entry canopy and the fellowship hall. On a school, it’s the covered walkways, the front office canopy and the gym eave. Under the overhang, the track is sheltered and hard to see during the day.
A church calendar, set once
The app’s yearly calendar holds each season’s scene:
- Advent: deep blue or purple, with warm white.
- Christmas Eve through Epiphany: white and gold.
- Lent: purple, or simply warm white.
- Easter: bright white with gold.
- Pentecost: red.
- Ordinary nights: warm white along the eaves from dusk until after evening services.
Christmas services, weddings, funerals and community events can each have a saved scene, so a staff member only has to pick one in the app. Congregations of every tradition can set their own calendar the same way.
School colors and events
Schools can run school colors on game nights, a bright white for evening events and pickup, and holiday scenes in December. Graduation week and homecoming each get their own scene. Off-hours, a steady white along walkways helps visibility and security.
Steady light near the street
Facade lighting on a non-residential building can fall under sign codes. Tampa’s Chapter 27, for example, treats a sign lit by lights that change color, flash or alternate as an “activated sign” and prohibits it. Other Tampa Bay cities and counties have similar limits on animated light. For institutional buildings, we plan steady scenes on any street-facing facade and confirm the code for your address before anything goes live. Seasonal changes, such as blue in Advent and white at Christmas, are steady colors held for weeks, which is how most buildings use the system anyway.
Power and controls
Controller hardware lives indoors, typically in a maintenance room, storage closet or garage, on an existing outlet we test first. A low-voltage cable runs to the eave. Larger campuses may use more than one controller, one per building, all in the same app. Access can be shared with the pastor, the facilities lead and an office manager, each with their own login.
Splitting a campus into zones
Two zones are available as an extra KWLE option. Common uses are a street-facing sanctuary in seasonal color with a parking-side eave in steady white, or a school’s front office in school colors with the classroom wing in plain white.
Approvals and boards
Most churches and private schools have a board, vestry, session or facilities committee that approves exterior work. We provide a written scope, a design preview of the building at night, product sheets, and a schedule showing what runs when. Fresh wiring, when required, is permitted and inspected under our license.
Installing around services and classes
We schedule installation around worship and class times, often on weekdays for churches and during breaks or after hours for schools. Crews keep walkways clear, and any lift work is done with the area closed off.
Storm season and campuses
Storm season officially spans June through November (NHC). Permanent track stays fastened under the eave, so there’s nothing for staff to take down. After a storm, check the GFCI on the controller’s outlet and run a test scene.
Beach-area churches
If a building is visible from a sea turtle nesting beach, beach-facing lighting should stay off from May 1 to October 31, following FWC guidance. Christmas and Advent fall after the season, so the full building can be lit in December.
Spacing and color
On tall sanctuary eaves, 6-inch spacing reads best from the street. On long, low school walkways, 9 or 16 inches works. For whites, a warm 2700K suits brick and older stucco, and a cooler white suits modern buildings. We show both in a free design preview.
Nativity scenes, signs and grounds
Permanent eave lights work alongside a nativity scene, a lit sign or other ground displays. They don’t replace them. The eave light frames the building, and other displays stay where they are. Because the system is scheduled, the eave lights can come on with the same timer your staff already uses for evening events. We don’t install yard or landscape fixtures as part of this system.
Daycares and preschools
Early-learning centers often want a cheerful but calm look. Soft pastels on special days and warm white at pickup time work well. Every scene is controlled by staff from the app, and the hardware is mounted up under the eaves and inside a staff room, out of children’s reach.
Members and parents may ask
A permanent system is often a gift from a member or family, or a parent-association project. We can provide a written scope suitable for a giving campaign, but we don’t give prices in public material. Call for an estimate.
Warranty and care
Parts carry the JellyFish 5-year parts warranty; labor carries the KWLE 2-year workmanship warranty, lengthened to five years by a Member Care Plan, which adds a yearly checkup.
Related reading
For storefronts and offices, see permanent lighting for businesses and storefronts. For scheduling ideas, see holiday and game-day color schedules and year-round color ideas. Want to see the building lit before deciding? Ask for a night-time design preview. Learn about the system on our JellyFish lighting page.
Churches and schools FAQ
Can lights go on the steeple? No. We mount only under eaves and soffits and up gable rakes, never on the roof or steeple.
Can volunteers change the scenes? Yes. Anyone given app access can choose a saved scene.
Do we need an outdoor outlet? No. The controller plugs into an existing indoor outlet.
Can it be used for permanent Christmas lights and for everyday light? Yes. That’s what it’s built for: permanent holiday lighting in season and warm white the rest of the year.
Sources: decorating injuries, CPSC; LED energy, DOE; Tampa sign code, City of Tampa Code of Ordinances, Chapter 27; storm season, NHC climatology; nesting season, FWC.
Related: permanent lighting for businesses, soffit and eave lights and our free design preview. Call (727) 476-7079 for an estimate.