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Smooth moves: Industry City’s new ice skating rink will be open Wednesdays through Sundays until March.
Skate of the art
Industry City courtyard turns into holiday ice rink
By Jessica Parks It’s a new spot to chill
One of Industry
City’s outdoor courtyards
has frozen over,
transforming into a holidaythemed
ice rink and winter
wonderland featuring
an inflatable Santa,
blinking lights, and plastic
snowmen. The courtyard’s
Christmas decorations
are designed to evoke the
feeling of Brooklyn’s most
festive neighborhood, said
the complex’s development
director.
“It’s our ode to Dyker
Heights,” said Jim Somoza.
“Over the top, everything is
over the top.”
The uncovered ice rink
opened for its inaugural
season last weekend, and
will host skating hours
on Wednesdays through
Sundays until the end of
March. On Friday and
Saturday nights, the rink
will host special theme
nights, with disk jockeys
spinning hits from the ’80s,
country music, or boy band
songs, depending on the
night. The skating dance
parties are just part of the
fun in store for the rink,
said Somoza.
“We are still coming up
with a lot of different things
to do,” Somoza said. “We
are going to offer curling,
possibly some two-on-two
hockey.”
Once skaters tire of
perfecting their figure
eights underneath the
bright holiday lights,
they can retreat to a skilodge
themed outdoor
tent, or grab a drink at an
outdoor bar decorated like
a gingerbread house and
surrounded by seasonal
icons, including Santa
Claus and the Grinch. One
upcoming feature — a fire
pit — will soon offer a spot
for people to gather with
food and beverages before
and after their turns on
the ice, said the Industry
City rep.
“Adults can bring their
drinks, kids can have
theirs, and everyone can
make some s’mores,”
Somoza said. “This is our
way of doing something
fun for the family. It is
so fun watching people’s
faces as they round the
corner of the ice skating
rink and see the fun that
can be had.”
The rink, inside
Industry City’s Courtyard
An ice view: The Industry City skating rink is beside a gingerbread house bar and a lot of holiday
decorations.
5-6, is near to several
restaurants and bars,
including Brooklyn Kura
sake bar, Barrow’s Intense
Ginger Liqueur tasting
room, and the Frying Pan
bar. Holiday events are also
taking place throughout
the sprawling Sunset
Park complex, including
a capella carolers, holiday
markets, and roving visits
from Buddy the Elf.
Go ice skating at
Industry City Courtyard
5-6 (220 36th St. between
Second and Third avenues
in Sunset Park, www.
industrycity.com/ice-rink).
Open Wed–Thu, 4–8 pm;
Fri, 11 am–8 pm; Sat, 10
am–8 pm; Sun, 10 am–6
pm. $10 ($6 kids; skate
rental $9).
Your entertainment
guide Page 49
out!
Police Blotter ..........................8
Wellness .................................. 41
Opinion ...................................36
Letters .................................... 37
Standing O ............................38
HOW TO REACH US
4 COURIER LIFE, DEC. 6-12, 2019
Many of the homes that participate in the Christmas light show phenomenon known as Dyker Lights rely on professional contractors to install their
luminous displays. Photo by Stefano Giovannini
Meet the professional decorators behind Dyker Lights
BY ROSE ADAMS
The world-renowned Dyker
Heights Christmas lights are
now aglow for the holiday season
— thanks to two private
decorating companies, who
hung most of the neighborhood’s
extravagant displays,
according to one of the businesses’
owners.
“We do lights, wreaths,
bows, special lights that twinkle
all over,” said James Bonavita,
who runs B&R Decorations.
Since early November,
workers from B&R Decorations
— along with their main competitor,
DiMeglio Decorators
— have decked out around 85-
percent of the neighborhood’s
houses top-to-bottom in exorbitant
holiday lights, helping to
turn Dyker Heights into a hotbed
of jolly tourists.
According to Bonavita, both
companies have their own personal
style — with B&R specializing
in moving fi gures and
unique pieces.
“We do animated fi gures,
fi gures that move,” he said.
“We have one-of-a-kind ribbon
imported from Italy.”
Each house takes between
three and fi ve days to decorate,
according to Bonavita, who said
the companies collaborate with
homeowners to create their
custom displays. Homeowners
buy the lights and ornaments
and reuse them year after year
— but the displays and their assembly
aren’t cheap.
“We don’t do a job for less
than $1,000,” Bonavita said.
Bonavita, a Bensonhurst native,
said he got his start decorating
Dyker’s houses 27 years
ago, when his father told him
that some novice decorators in
Dyker Heights needed help.
“I went and I showed them
exactly what to do,” he said.
“As I was working, people were
passing by in their cars and
saying, ‘You do lights?’”
B&R has since grown into
the area’s largest decorating
business, serving more than
100 Dyker houses this year.
DiMeglio started up a few
years after B&R, and despite
its close proximity to existing
company, the two don’t see
themselves as rivals, Bonavita
claimed.
“We get along,” he said.
“They’re more Bay Ridge and
I’m more Dyker Heights. We
don’t step on each other’s toes.”
Some accuse the companies
of using identical decorations
on numerous houses — and
killing each display’s individual
character, according to a
Bklyner report.
And critics consider hiring
a professional decorator
as a form of cheating — but
the lighting maestros argue
that their services are no different
than that of any other
expert.
“It’s like if you want something
on your car fi xed or if you
want to paint your wall, you
hire someone who really knows
how,” said Nando DiMeglio of
DiMeglio Decorators. “It’s too
much work for the homeowners
to do it all themselves most
of the time. I have a whole team
with me to do it.”
— Additional reporting by
Elissa Esher
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