about us
OUR STORY
Around 2004 my brother and I, who owned Brotherhood Painting, gave an eccentric, young stranger a ride to Mt. Ashland to go snowboarding. He unloaded 70% of his life story on that short trip. Among his many entreprenueral endeavors had been an ice cream truck, a Beatles themed sandwich shop and . . . you guessed it . . . a Christmas Lights service. That planted a seed that took 10 years to sprout. In 2014, when we expanded the company to have employees that we needed a way to keep our guys busy during the winter. So that year we started hanging Christmas lights in Medford and the Rogue Valley. Back then we were called Christmas Lights by Brotherhood Painting. It turns out Christmas Lights installation was not only a great way to keep our staff going all year; it was also a fun, creative business that spreads joy. So we’ve stuck with it all these years, learning and improving as we go.
When we first opened the doors, we were overwhelmed by the immediate interest in what we were doing. The phone rang every 10 minutes and we just couldn’t keep up with the demand! That first season we appeared on 3 different news channels (see above), and started what would end up replacing our painting business.
Whoodathunkit?
TRADING PURPLE FOR RED
In 2022 I sold the painting division of Brotherhood Painting, so the name for our Christmas Lights division had to go.
We are now
‘Mary & Brite’s Christmas Lites’
It’s so fun to be able to give that much more of my energy to this fun, challenging, creative business. Every year it just gets better, for us and for our clients.
OUR TEAM
Clay Bustin - Owner
I moved to the Rogue Valley in 2002. This is my family – my wonderful wife, Danelle, and our 5 sons – from oldest to youngest – Phoenix, Jude, Ember, Lelyn and Westley. We live a sweet little off-grid life on a 365 acre nature preserve in Coquille. We homeschool our boys, grow (some of) our own food and in the summers I Co-Direct Cob Cottage Company, where we teach people how to build houses out of mud!
In October I head out to Medford to run Mary & Brite’s and it has proved to be a great seasonal life balance. I wear every hat in the company!
John Lassere - Head Installer
John is my brother in-law and head of installations. He does a good portion of our Christmas light installations himself and anyone who joins our team gets trained by John. He’s fearless on a roof (but also safe!), handy, trustworthy and dependable. If you hire us there’s a good chance you’ll get to enjoy John’s southern hospitality!
