Former electrician brightens up city's Christmas lights

The holiday season in Columbia Falls should be a little brighter this year.

The Columbia Falls Lions Club for years has put up Christmas lights on all the street poles along Highway 2 and Nucleus Avenue, but the lights were beginning to show their age.

So resident Rob Hedstrom recently volunteered his time and energy to overhaul and replace the bulbs in each decoration.

Hedstrom is no stranger to electrical work — he was an electrician for Plum Creek’s plywood plant for more than 30 years.

He figures it took about 40 hours to go through all the lights — fixing fixtures and replacing bulbs.

“I went through every single bulb,” he said with a smile. “Sometimes you’d just touch them and they’d go out.”

All told, he figures he replaced 300 bulbs on the roughly 60 decorations.

The Lions, with the help of Centurylink, put up the lights every year in early December or late November, so they’re ready for the city’s annual Night of Lights Celebration and parade the first Friday night in December.