Animated bear on balcony of decorated house

Video. Despite Covid, Brooklyn neighborhood still a flashy Christmas village

Every year in Brooklyn's Dyker Heights neighbourhood, people decorate their homes with extravagant Christmas light displays, drawing crowds of wide-eyed visitors. The tradition continues this year despite the pandemic, with one New-Yorker celebrating its much needed "festive spirit" in the midst of "uncertain and scary" times.

Every year in Brooklyn's Dyker Heights neighbourhood, people decorate their homes with extravagant Christmas light displays, drawing crowds of wide-eyed visitors. The tradition continues this year despite the pandemic, with one New-Yorker celebrating its much needed "festive spirit" in the midst of "uncertain and scary" times.

In a New York where traditional holiday performances are cancelled, Rockefeller Center tree viewings are timed and travel is ill-advised, it's beginning to feel a lot like the Covid Grinch stole Christmas.

But in Brooklyn's illuminated Dyker Heights neighbourhood, not even a pandemic can keep the festive spirit down.

The quasi-suburban residential district features large single-family homes that in late November start shimmering with elaborate holiday displays.

This year tourism is reined in, as are bus tours to the southwestern Brooklyn neighbourhood that proudly displays its Italian-American heritage.