NYSCWA members tour lighting maker and renovated washes at fall meeting

The New York State Car Wash Association brought members together for education, networking and site visits at its Annual Fall Membership Meeting and Tour on Thursday, Oct. 29. The day blended a manufacturing tour, two operator site visits and a business meeting that installed the association's 2027 leadership, according to reporting from Professional Carwashing & Detailing.

The event opened with coffee and car-wash-themed lattes from a local traveling coffee camper, Saratoga Sundry, sponsored by Northeast Carwasher magazine, before the group headed to a lighting manufacturer and two area washes.

A lighting maker born from the wash business

Members toured G & G Industrial Lighting in Malta, New York, a company with roots in the car wash industry. According to the report, the business began when Gary Baright of Foam & Wash in Poughkeepsie encountered LED lighting at a Las Vegas show and saw potential for use inside washes. The challenge was building fixtures that could survive humidity, water and chemicals. He tasked his nephew Jason Baright, an engineering graduate, with solving it, leading to the WPX, a harsh-environment LED luminaire. Jason and his brother Cory now lead the operation.

Newly elected NYSCWA President Chris Kubarek of K & S Car Wash called the business state-of-the-art and praised its origin story. Lunch followed, catered by Neighborhood Kitchen and sponsored by Vacutech, Sonny's and Kleen-Rite.

New officers and a renovation focus

At a brief business meeting, members elected the 2027 slate of officers. Kubarek takes over as president, with Mackenzie Weekes Wilock of Spritz Car Wash as vice president and Rob Peter of Synergy Solutions as secretary. Directors include Evan Baright, Jake Collison, Amanda Kubarek, Stephen Weekes and Tom Whited. Outgoing president Walt Hartl was honored, and Kubarek announced that a Walter J. Hartl Community Impact Award would be presented beginning in 2028.

The group then toured two renovated sites. Spritz Car Wash in Halfmoon, the company's first location from 2005, was demolished and rebuilt earlier this year, swapping aging PDQ G5 units for new PDQ 360 LaserWashes along with new walls, roofing, siding, blacktop and lighting. The hosts added an Oktoberfest-themed stop with beer, pretzels and German hats.

The final visit was Hoffman Car Wash on Albany-Shaker Road in Loudonville, a 100-foot express tunnel that recently underwent its most significant overhaul yet. The site had struggled with a short tunnel, low volume and four aging self-serve bays taking up valuable space. The renovation added an AVW belt conveyor, innovateIT equipment and prep-less washing. A company handout reported a 90% increase in volume during the first six months after the changes.

Why it matters for operators

The Hoffman results offer a concrete reference point for operators weighing whether to overhaul an underperforming site rather than keep it limping along. Replacing low-volume self-serve bays with a belt conveyor and prep-less washing drove a reported 90% volume gain in six months, a reminder that reclaiming space and modernizing the customer experience can reset a location's economics. The Spritz rebuild shows a similar pattern: aging in-bay automatics replaced with newer units as part of a full property refresh. Beyond equipment, both stops underscore how regional associations give operators a low-cost way to study peers' remodels firsthand and benchmark their own aging sites before committing capital.