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Light Up the Night
WHY DO WE HANG CHRISTMAS LIGHTS?
The first string of twinkling lights illuminating your neighbor’s house is always a telltale sign of the upcoming seasonal festivities. Christmas lights are a holiday staple, but have you ever wondered where this beloved tradition started? The tradition of hanging lights on the tree originally started with candles. Because this posed an immense fire hazard, Edward Hibberd Johnson, a close friend of Thomas Edison and vice president of the Edison Electric Light Company, vowed to find a better way to decorate Christmas trees with light. In December 1882, three years after Edison’s invention of the lightbulb in November 1879, Johnson hand- wired 80 red, white, and blue lightbulbs together and wound them around a Christmas tree in his parlor window. A passing reporter saw the spectacle and declared in the Detroit Post and Tribune, “One can hardly imagine anything prettier.”
Johnson continued this tradition, increasing the number of lights each year and eventually putting them up outside. But because electricity was still a new concept, many years passed before the fad took off for regular Americans. In 1923, President Calvin Coolidge began the tradition of lighting the National Christmas Tree, which spurred the idea of selling stringed lights commercially. By the 1930s, families everywhere were buying boxes of bulbs by the dozen. Today, an estimated 150 million Christmas lights are sold in America each year, decorating 80 million homes and consuming 6% of the nation’s electricity every December. Whether you’ll be putting up your own lights or appreciating the most impressive light displays in your neighborhood or town, let the glow fill you with joy this season. Just don’t leave them up until February!
TONYA HICKS AND POWER SOLUTIONS Power Solutions Inc. is a progressive electrical contracting firm that has served an array of industrial, commercial, and government industries since 2000. They’re one of Atlanta’s go-to electrical companies because of their superior work, competitive prices, and unrivaled focus on customer satisfaction and appreciation. Beyond electric services, they provide facility management and maintenance, construction management, building commissioning, and more. Perhaps even more impressive than the outstanding services they provide is the history of the president and CEO of the company. According to her biography on the company’s website, Tonya Hicks is the first woman journeyman wireman in Local Union 917 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), as well as being among the first few African American women to be a part of the IBEW in the state of Mississippi. She’s a trailblazer in the construction industry, one of the mere 3% of female electricians in the U.S. and one of the 5.2% of women-owned construction companies in the country. Her inspiring ambitions and successful business tactics have served as a beacon for women in our community. In 2009, she founded the organization Women Do Everything, a program that educates women in the electrical and construction fields, and inspires them with the confidence and know-how to take care of their homes and any DIY projects with their own two hands. She’s a game-changing leader who continues to shatter stereotypes and empower women. Local Business Spotlight
Whether you’re looking for electrical and construction services or are a woman trying to figure out how to break into the field, Power Solutions, Women Do Everything, and Tonya Hicks are here to help you get started.
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