NORFOLK, Va. — "Now, if I were you, I'd personally check each one." — Clark Griswold, Sr., Christmas Vacation
That's the quote that inspired this story.
But Clark was only working with 25,000 twinkle lights on one roof. The people getting Norfolk's skyline ready to light up for the holidays are responsible for 40,000 lights on dozens of buildings.
Saturday, the city's Grand Illumination event returns for its 39th year. The lights will be turned on as floats, bands and thousands of excited neighbors gather for the parade below.
For property owners, participation is mandatory, according to the event-organizing Downtown Norfolk Council. That means outfitting the roofs and sides of their buildings with hundreds of feet of holiday lights.
Because they technically stay up year-round, they have to be checked before the Grand Illumination.
"It's a big effort that, you know, starts in the middle of the summer to get everybody on board with this. And luckily, a lot of folks have been through the wringer now since we've been doing it since 1985," said Paul Rice, Director of Marketing and Communications for Downtown Norfolk Council.
And for 38 of the 39 Grand Illuminations, Independent Services of Virginia, Inc. has been the go-to company making sure each light is ready to glow.
"It's the sexy part of our business," said company president Richard Cilley, who adds the 'unsexy' part is window washing, caulking and other general maintenance.
The work takes Cilley's crews hundreds of feet high in some cases and they often have to rappel down the sides of the city's high rises in a harness and chair.
News 3 was invited to join a crew working atop the six-story Gravity condominiums.
"(We) ensure that all the bulbs, like these right here, they're zip-tied and anchored down so they don't fly off. And to make sure that the light bulbs themselves are not burned out, and if they are, we change them out. And if we have a broke line, we come in, we take that section out, splice it back together," said Jeremiah Jarriel, Project Manager for Independent Services of Virginia, Inc.
Prolonged sun exposure and weather can damage the lights, he says, as can curious birds.
"Birds like pecking at the bulbs in the lines, and they break them loose," said Jarriel.
Several blocks away at a nine-story building at Brambleton Avenue and Boush Street, a contractor harnesses up to check the bulbs along the building's side edges.
Clearly, a fear of heights won't get you far in this industry.
"A certain percent of people that don't feel like they're afraid of heights change their mind once they get up ten, 20, 30 stories and have to look over the side," said Cilley.
For those that aren't afraid, several safety measures ensure they get back on the ground safely.
"Don't want to have your back to the to the edge," said Jarriel. "When we're descending, it's always check and double check your knots staying sure that you're secured. Always have a tie back and make sure that you always have somebody else on the roof."
It's a team effort to make sure every light is checked before the big night and when the moment comes and the switch is flipped, it's a moment of pride.
"You actually see them all, come on, and they're all working. That's actually a really good feeling," said Jarriel.
Independent Services also works on the lights for the Virginia Beach Town Center Grand Illumination, which includes the highest roof many on the team have worked on: The 500-foot-tall Westin. It's also the tallest building in Virginia.
Norfolk's Grand Illumination Parade begins at 7 p.m. on Saturday, November 22. The Virginia Beach event is the following Saturday.
