Inside the Brooklyn Homes of the People Behind the Famous Dyker Heights Christmas Lights

Great Big Story visited the famous Dyker Heights Christmas Lights to take a peek inside the homes of those who light up south Brooklyn every holiday season.

Over the bridge in Brooklyn, New York, one neighborhood is on a merry mission to claim the title of most festive place on earth. The residents of Dyker Heights spend all year meticulously planning their decorations, in preparation for over 100,000 visitors descending on their doorsteps each Christmas.

It all started one year when Lucy Spata, the self-described “Queen of Christmas”, began decorating her home in 1986. Soon after, the neighborhood caught on.

I moved here in 1986. It was horrible because there was no decorations, nothing on this block. So me, being I come from a family that decorates, I said to my husband, this can’t be. So what we did was we decorated, you know, not extravagant the first year. All of a sudden, like everybody started coming to the block. First I was known as the troublemaker. All the streets blocked, you can’t get down the block, all this. And I refused to let it bother me because you’re not gonna stop me from decorating.

The residents were more than happy to talk about their decorations on the outside of their houses and inside, noting how the interior and exterior are different, how much money goes into the yearly festival, and why they love to do this every year.

I’m like, well, it’s for the holiday and some people wanna be more elaborate so it’s like a competition sometimes. Some people really, I really do think sometime people compete, you know, but overall, the more the merrier you know, if this is what they love to do, why not?