A history of Christmas lights, wedding and event lighting, gutter and solar panel cleaning

West Side Services-A historical narrative 2012-present.

In the winter of 2012 a young man named Zack decided to follow a hunch and start a business. He had never taken a business class. He had never owned a business nor even managed someone else's business. He did have motivation and the ability to take a risk. In 2008 Zack's friend Jesse asked him if he wanted to help him hang Christmas Lights in Boulder, CO. The economy was in shambles and Jesse's other way to make money-surveying-wasn't paying the bills. So Jesse started Mountain Lights. And then Jesse and Zack started down the long, interesting world of figuring out in fact how to hang Christmas Lights. During this time Christmas Lights were all incandescent and not LED like today. When one light broke entire sections of tree would go out. And they often broke because the housing was made of glass and not plastic like today. They would spend hours fixing broken lights, often electrocuting themselves on accident, working until past midnight in freezing winter temperatures and basically suffering through it. But they persevered and the business made money. Zack moved on from Boulder to Carbondale, CO. With Jesse's blessing he decided to start his own Christmas Light business there. It started very small. He had very little money to put into it. So for around $1500 in lights and ladders he loaded up his truck and started. It was a slow start. Advertising was done the old fashion way. Yard signs with a phone number was it. They would often get removed after a day or so. This gave Zack an idea. Instead of putting the signs in the ground he put them in really hard to access places requiring a tall ladder or climbing skills. His most creative placement was up on a bridge. He figured that if a potential client saw a sign in an impossible location they would pause and think "Well whoever got that sign in that crazy place can probably hang Christmas Lights pretty well." It worked. The first year he did ok. The second year was better. He was honest and reliable and customers told their friends. After 3 or 4 seasons he didn't bother with the signs. With a website and word of mouth there was enough work. He started hiring friends to help. By year five and six he was having trouble keeping up with demand. But he kept at it and made sure the work was done right. By year seven and eight he had two vehicles and two crews working a three month install season and a one month take down season. He started doing weddings and events as well. Business was booming and he had repeat customers everywhere in the area. Eventually he felt like it was time to take a break and living in Colorado was getting a little boring. He had a young daughter that he really wanted to raise in the Pacific Northwest. The Columbia River Gorge become the goal. Zack was able to sell the business in the spring of 2020 and then moved to White Salmon, WA in 2021. The original West Side Lighting business continues to thrive to this day. The 2nd iteration of the business was named West Side Services because Zack is a little superstitious and felt maybe the West Side name had good juju. Today WSS is still run by Zack and his wife Tara. Their goal is to grow their little family in The Columbia River Gorge and become a positive part of the community. And to supply the area with affordable and reliable Christmas Lights, Wedding Lights, Event Lighting, Gutter Cleaning, and Solar Panel Cleaning. Thanks for reading about our long, interesting history!