Hello everyone! Sparkle here with a 2020 Year in Review for my favorite holiday light company, Gainesville Holiday Lights. I’m telling you, this has been a crazy year! Lots of great things happened despite everything going on in the world around us. Santa gave me a little bit of time off, so I thought this would be a great time to bring you up to speed with how things shook out this past year.
New business, new business, new business
Like so many other small businesses across the country, Covid-19 affected the companies in our community in very serious ways. Thankfully, once things reopened we were able to turn it around and come together as a community to support each other.
As a part of that, Gainesville Holiday Lights expanded to new communities. We now serve Ocala as well as The Villages! Along with this came some utterly beautiful houses we got to decorate with just downright amazing Christmas displays! There’s just something about these setups that I love, love, love!!!
The City of Gainesville hired us to set up the lights for Bo Diddley Plaza as well as the Thomas Center. Both of these projects were a delight to work on and we look forward to continuing to work with the city in the future. The city of Keystone Heights contracted us to hang up permanent lighting on their live oaks near Keystone Beach. These fixtures use the popular and stylish Edison Bulbs, so next time you’re in the area be sure to check them out!
Nonprofit and HOA Projects
One of our favorite moments from our 2020 Year in Review is when we helped Gainesville Community Playhouse, a local nonprofit, with their displays this year. We also worked closely with Kirby Family Farm, lighting the entrance to the park and train station as well as Santa’s Workshop (my favorite place in the whole world!)
The opportunity presented itself to partner with 2 homeowners associations as well: the Town of Tioga and Oakmont. In the case of the latter, we added unique teardrop displays along with bows to their lighting columns.
Community Connections
As a part of our commitment to the communities we live and work in, we joined two area Chambers of Commerce: Gainesville and Ocala. We look forward to continuing to be a part of these growing and vibrant organizations!
Company Updates
No 2020 Year in Review would be complete without talking about all of the new operational improvements Gainesville Holiday Lights made this year. Santa is always telling me, “Sparkle, no matter how good you get, you can always get better.” The team here believes in that too and made lots of changes.
First, they expanded their team. Erica helped to grow our company sales quite a bit with new contracts. Thank you so much for your efforts Erica — they don’t go unnoticed.
We also hired Conrad and Tyler to work in our warehouse. Their job is to make certain all bulbs are properly inspected and work properly so that our field team members can be as efficient as possible.
Last but not least, the entire team deserves a huge thank you. In fact, Amanda, Kyle, Tom, Andy, Sam, Ray, Steven, and Elaina, we have a special message for you from none other than Santa himself!
If you noticed earlier, I mentioned permanent lighting. This is one of our new company offerings. We work with homeowners to install long term lighting solutions such as above the patio. We also work with other businesses who want year-round lighting so that they can easily change the colors out based on the holiday.
Next, we purchased a new trailer: a 7×14 cargo trailer that can “bring the shop with us.” It’s been a major help with all of the projects we completed this past fall.
Finally, we proudly renewed our CLIPA certification. Our goal is to be the leader in all things holiday lights, and as a result, we took all of the necessary retraining videos so that we are at the top of our game!
Expectations for 2021
Gainesville Holiday Lights will be expanding this year. We cannot wait to start servicing the town of Jacksonville in 2021. This will not only double our current service area but also allow us to triple our locations!
This year, we’ll be working hard in the offseason to make certain all team members are well trained once the decorating season kicks off. What, you thought we elves got a break?
We’re working diligently to optimize our office procedures so that, as we grow, we grow smartly. Fast growth is good, but we want to make certain we have the proper tools in place to effectively manage our ongoing success.
I mentioned landscaping lights earlier. This year, we’re hoping to significantly grow this segment of our business by partnering with even more homeowners so that their homes can have that dream patio they’ve always wanted. Hey, trust me, I saw that on your Christmas list last year! It’s coming!
Plus, we want to help businesses who want permanent lighting setups but are still able to dynamically switch out the colors based on the season.
Wrapping up our 2020 Year in Review
As Gainesville Holiday Lights closes the door on 2020 and looks ahead to 2021, they asked me to send along their sincere thanks to all of their customers for supporting them last year. All of the amazing displays helped guide Santa’s sleigh through a wonderful and joyous Christmas Season. They can’t wait to see all of you again this upcoming year!
And that concludes my time off too. Back to the North Pole for me!
Here are some other resources to help light up your holiday season!
Hire The Best Holiday Lights Business – Ask These 8 Questions
