Walkway of Lights Maintenance Crew Share

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One of the most over­looked yet cru­cial jobs with­in the City of Mar­i­on is that of the main­te­nance crew for the annu­al Walk­way of Lights. The crew is respon­si­ble for the set-up, tear-down, and ongo­ing main­te­nance for the hun­dreds of dis­plays car­ry­ing over two mil­lion lights. The City express­es appre­ci­a­tion to the team, which this past sea­son included:

Mike Poto­s­ki (hired 2011)

Kin­nie Sol­lars (hired 2015)

Randy Hiatt (hired 2017)

Mark Cas­to (hired 2018)

Brad Evans (hired 2018)

Scott Helpling (hired 2018)

Antho­ny McClung (hired 2018)

City­wide Main­te­nance Super­in­ten­dent, James Loftis, expressed sin­cere thanks for their ded­i­ca­tion to an immense task which piles on top of their reg­u­lar duties dur­ing a sig­nif­i­cant por­tion of each year.

“I can’t say how much their atten­tion to detail and over­all pride they take in the instal­la­tion of the Walk­way of Lights has made what this event is today. These indi­vid­u­als are out in all weath­er con­di­tions, away from their fam­i­lies, to ensure the lights are run­ning and kept up.”

Loftis explained the process lasts six to sev­en weeks which includes set-up, main­te­nance, and tear-down of the displays.

Mike Poto­s­ki added there were a lot of repairs this past year. ​“We spent a good amount of time on repair which includes rewiring, some weld­ing, and some­times com­plete redesign which is tak­en to GP Designs (in Mar­i­on). Main­te­nance is so impor­tant to keep up the annu­al event while also mak­ing the dis­plays safer, eas­i­er to install, and more ener­gy-effi­cient,” he said.

The team expressed accep­tance of the year­ly rou­tine. One mem­ber stat­ed, ​“When it’s got­ta be done, it’s got­ta be done. Even when the weather’s bad, we do it anyway.”