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EDITOR’S<br />
NOTE<br />
The Heart<br />
of an Industry<br />
Our cover story this month provides<br />
a look at the 10 biggest changes in the<br />
pressure wash industry over the past<br />
quarter century, as selected by the<br />
most veteran journalist in the field.<br />
One thing I’ve found in my own<br />
years of covering the pressure wash<br />
industry is that the pressure washing<br />
world is full of good people who are<br />
generous with their talents and have a<br />
heart for their communities.<br />
Bill Hutson and his wife Pam of H&H<br />
Softwash in Franklin, North Carolina are<br />
my case in point. Here’s why.<br />
Fields of the Wood is a Christian<br />
religious park of more than 200 acres<br />
in Cherokee County, NC, owned by<br />
the Church of God of Prophecy—a<br />
Holiness Pentecostal denomination.<br />
It is best known for its 300-footwide,<br />
mountainside representation of<br />
the Ten Commandments, with letters<br />
five feet high and four feet wide. The<br />
park includes numerous other markers<br />
and monuments, including representations<br />
of the three crosses on Golgotha.<br />
The roadside attraction is named<br />
after a reference in the King James<br />
Version of Psalms 132: 6: "We found it<br />
in the fields of the wood."<br />
The Hutsons relocated to Macon<br />
County, NC for retirement a few<br />
years back. But a businessman at<br />
heart, Bill Hutson “saw a need in the<br />
community and couldn’t resist filling<br />
that gap.” He did so by founding H&H<br />
Softwash in 2021.<br />
The Hutsons had long ago started<br />
a nonprofit, Table Talk Foundation<br />
for Better Living, which provided<br />
free home repairs for the elderly<br />
and disabled. Once, while cleaning a<br />
90-year-old woman’s algae-covered<br />
sidewalk, Hutson researched how to<br />
clean it, discovered soft washing, and<br />
began offering softwash as another<br />
free service.<br />
Hutson retired from Table Talk<br />
Foundation after it had grown to<br />
operate two offices in two states, with<br />
clients in 12 states.<br />
Since its founding, H&H Softwash<br />
has commonly offered lucky community<br />
members in Macon County the<br />
chance to win a free exterior wash. In<br />
one contest, area churches were able<br />
to upload photos to H&H Softwash on<br />
Facebook and the photo with the most<br />
likes received a free roof and exterior<br />
wash for their church.<br />
So it was that the Hutsons happened<br />
to visit Fields of the Wood in recent<br />
months and were moved to a singular<br />
conclusion: they had to clean the park.<br />
Hutson spent three weeks on the<br />
job, estimating at least $10,000 in<br />
donated services. He was very careful<br />
with the structures given their age.<br />
Following his work, the park is by no<br />
means spotless; but importantly, the<br />
algae growth has at long last been put<br />
in check.<br />
Hutson, who plans to retire from<br />
pressure washing for good in the near<br />
future, said cleaning the theme park<br />
made him feel like he “ended with a<br />
purpose.”<br />
Regardless of your religious faith,<br />
it’s a feel good story that speaks to the<br />
heart of people in our industry.<br />
Well done, Mr. and Mrs. Hutson.<br />
Drew Ruble<br />
drewruble@gmail.com<br />
Editor | PW News<br />
VOL. 5, NO. 1 | SUMMER <strong>2023</strong> | PRESSURE WASH NEWS | 3
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