Each year, Greenpoint residents look forward to the bright and colorful holiday lights that adorn Manhattan Avenue. And each year presents an opportunity for locals to help foot the bill, alongside local business owners.
Everything is a little more expensive this year (thanks, inflation!) and holiday lights are no exception. While some have balked at the $40,000 goal, business owners say the cost of lights has increased in recent years.
In an interview from 2021, Peter Pan Donuts owner Donna Siafakas told us that putting the lights up is “very expensive.”
“Each strand is between $400 and $700, some of them are $3,000,” she continued. In a pinned Instagram comment from last year’s post about the lights, Siafakis reassures concerned readers that the money all goes to the lights, whether it’s this or next year’s.
But our neighborhood’s lighting woes stretch back further than our inflation era. A Greenpointers article from 2016 notes that more local businesses used to contribute to paying off the cost. Without that support, the cost has now fallen on the shoulders of customers.
Aside from the Manhattan Avenue fundraiser, local business owners have started a GoFundMe for the lights on Nassau Avenue. The lights stretch from Newel to Russell streets.
Hi there, thanks for this article. The hyperlink for the fundraiser event goes to the GoFundme. Is there a separate website in info for the in-person event?
Thx to Donna and looking forward to everyone coming together
Hi there, both fundraisers are GoFundMe campaigns. I’m not aware of any in-person events, but let me know if I missed something.