Quantcast

Brooklyn party boss lights up Canarsie for the holidays

Frank Seddio speaks at the Seddio house in Canarsie on Friday, Dec. 6, 2019.
Frank Seddio speaks at the opening night of his family light display on Dec. 6.
Photo by Caroline Ourso

It’s a beloved holiday tradition. 

Kings County Democratic Party Boss Frank Seddio flipped the switch on his annual Canarsie holiday light display on Friday night, illuminating a whopping 100,000 lights and over 200 animated figures!

The $350,000 display — located at Seddio’s Flatlands Avenue home at E. 93rd Street — is part of a tradition that the politico’s uncle started in 1963, and which the Brooklyn party boss claims inspired the wildly popular Christmas displays in Dyker Heights

“Many of the lights of Dyker Heights are copies of our Christmas decorations,” Seddio said.  

The spectacle features eight separate display areas, including Hanukkah and Kwanzaa sections, which are accompanied by a massive 12-foot Ferris wheel, 15-foot toy soldier, and a flying zeppelin that’s rigged 10 feet off the ground and which roams the sky above Seddio’s front yard.   

A large crowd gathers at the Seddio house for the opening night of the annual light display in Canarsie.Photo by Caroline Ourso

Other attractions include an ice-skating Mickey and Minnie Mouse, and the animatronic, joke-telling Christmas tree named “Stumpy.”

And while the display mixes in modern characters, it pays tribute to the religious aspect of Christmas with a life-size nativity scene that Seddio procured from Italy for the display. 

The Seddio family light display’s opening night was attended by Santa Claus, elves and a dozen other costumed characters, and featured carols sung by Public School 115’s chorus and the Holy Family Church choir accompanied by a steel drum band. 

The light display will stay up until Jan. 6.