Lighting up McCook: Fair Ways Christmas Lights helps homes shine a little brighter

McCOOK, Neb. – When the days get shorter and the wind turns sharp, Brian Nally doesn’t head indoors for the season—he just swaps lawn mowers for ladders and starts loading up spools of Christmas lights.

Nally is the owner of Fair Way Landscaping and its holiday counterpart, Fair Ways Christmas Lights. This is his second year installing lights in McCook, and he said the community has made it easy to feel at home.

“Honestly, it’s been going really good,” he said. “I feel like I’ve been accepted very well into the community, and I’ve been blessed to grow very quickly.”

Fair Way Landscaping handles lawn care and outdoor maintenance when the weather cooperates. Once the frost sets in, Nally turns his focus to rooftops, gutters and front porches—creating custom Christmas light displays for homes and businesses across town.

He also volunteers his time and equipment to help the McCook Chamber of Commerce with the Christmas lights in Norris Park, a tradition many families look forward to each year.

“That display is just fantastic,” Nally said. “Sarah puts a lot of time and work into getting awareness out for local businesses, and helping with the park lights is one way I can give a little back.”

From lawns to lights

Nally has worked in grounds management since 2014 and describes McCook as very much a “lawn community.”

“A lot of people take a lot of pride in their lawns, and I like that,” he said. “I like green spaces. I like being outdoors. I like helping people have an area where they can get out and just kind of appreciate nature in town.”

Earlier this year, Fair Way Landscaping purchased the accounts of a local lawn care business that was closing.

“It was a win–win situation,” he said. “It gave me a boost from starting fresh with very few clients to more or less a full schedule, and it meant those customers could keep getting service without a big disruption.”

As seasons change, that same attention to detail moves from the yard to the eaves.

Unlike the grab-and-go strings most of us wrestle with at home, Nally works with commercial-grade lights that can be custom cut to fit each house. That means no extra loops dangling off the end of the roof and fewer extension cords snaking across the yard.

“I buy the lights in big spools and build everything to the house,” he explained. “It lets me eliminate all those extra pieces so the display looks clean and intentional.”

Customers can choose from classic warm white, candy-cane red and white, or multi-color bulbs. Fair Ways handles design, installation, takedown and off-season storage, checking strands each year and replacing any broken bulbs before they go back up.

Many of his clients, he said, are people who love having their homes decorated but no longer feel comfortable climbing ladders or getting on the roof.

“I hear it a lot—‘I’ve always done it myself,’” Nally said. “But kids move away, people get busier, and they just don’t feel safe getting up there anymore. That’s where I step in.”

Community pride in every strand

For Nally, Christmas lights are more than decoration. They’re part of how McCook presents itself to visitors and to one another.

“It benefits the community to have nice yards and nice light displays,” he said. “When people come in for ball tournaments or to shop and they drive around town, it really says something about the community.”

Holiday lights also pair perfectly with the things McCook already does well—local shopping, events on Norris Avenue, and simple family traditions like grabbing a hot chocolate and driving around to look at displays. Friendly competition, including the community Christmas light contest, doesn’t hurt either.

“Once a few houses on a block get decorated, other people want to join in,” Nally said with a laugh. “It kind of snowballs in a good way.”

Word-of-mouth and Chamber connections have been his biggest source of new business.

“Joining the Chamber was probably the best marketing decision I could have made,” he said. “Between that, repeat customers and people talking to their neighbors, it’s grown a lot from last year to this year.”

A family rooted in McCook

Nally and his wife, Jayme, moved to McCook from Omaha shortly before their youngest child was born. Jayme grew up in McCook; Brian is originally from a small town in Massachusetts.

“I always thought the whole ‘Midwest small-town’ thing was kind of a stereotype,” he said. “Where I grew up, we didn’t really have that community feel. Here, you see the push to support small businesses and keep that small-town atmosphere, even while the community is working to grow. That’s what I really like about McCook.”

Together they’re raising a blended family of seven kids—“about a baseball team,” he jokes—ranging from preschool to high school. Some of the older kids, and even a boyfriend or two, help out on jobs when they can.

“It’s fun, and McCook is a good place to raise them,” he said.

Still time to get your lights up

Even though the calendar is creeping toward mid-December, Nally said there’s still room to get on the schedule.

Depending on the size of the project and the colors a customer chooses, he can typically move from consultation to installation within about a week. For many homes, that still leaves plenty of time to enjoy a full season of lights—especially with takedown and storage taken off the to-do list.

“I know a lot of people have the best intentions,” he said. “They say, ‘I’m going to get the lights up, I’m going to do it,’ and suddenly it’s halfway through December and nothing’s on the house yet. I try to keep the turnaround as quick as possible so people can still enjoy that part of the season.”

Fair Ways Christmas Lights serves McCook and the surrounding Southwest Nebraska area.

For more information or to request a quote, call or text (308) 345-9320 or visit fairwayslandscaping.com and look for the Christmas lights section.