LI brothers compete on 'The Great Christmas Light Fight'

Deer Park brothers Andrew and Joe Barbieri, helped by their good friends Santa and Mrs. Claus, are among those competing for the best holiday displays on the season-8 premiere of "The Great Christmas Light Fight," Wednesday at 8 p.m. on WABC/7.

"The theme is that it's Santa Claus' house," says electrical contractor Andrew Barbieri, 52, speaking of his and Joe's annual "Lights on Liberty" display at 119 Liberty St. There Mickey and Minnie Mouse glide across an ice rink, a good-sized train circumnavigates the property, and "when you look inside the window of the house, we have a room with an animated Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus. … So everything has to be based around that storyline."

When an old piece is removed and a new one added, as happens virtually every year, he says, "We always try and keep it within the story: 'Well, why is that there?' "

The episode, shot last year pre-pandemic, features the lively Andrew and the laconic Joe, 55, as they welcome series hosts Carter Oosterhouse and Taniya Nayak on a crowded street where the community has gathered, as it has for years, for the opening-night lighting ceremony. This year marks the brothers' 40th display — though unlike previously, they're not making the date public, out of coronavirus concerns. "I don't want to get anyone sick," Andrew says.

But canceling for the first time in four decades wasn't an option. "This is something people look forward to," he says. "Now especially." The brothers' displays also serve as a fundraiser for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, to which 100% of any donations go.

The sons of Vincenza and the late Carmine Barbieri, Andrew and Joe graduated from Deer Park High School and then entered their respective trades. Andrew was born in the Town of Babylon hamlet, and older brother Joe in Astoria, Queens, moving with the family to Deer Park three months afterward.

About a decade later, "Our parents took us to a house in Farmingdale" with a large Christmas display, Andrew recalls. "And I fell in love with that house. And that was my inspiration to create, to do this. And after a couple of years I met the guy that did it, and to me it was like meeting a movie star."

At 12, Andrew recruited Joe for their first Christmas display at the family home, where Joe now lives after some years in Florida; Andrew lived for a time across the street before moving to West Islip.

The brothers were always mechanically inclined — "We built cars when we were kids," Andrew says — and started crafting their displays in 1980, at ages 12 and 15, respectively. "We work together on everything," Andrew says. "We're very tight, very close, we're best friends" — though when it comes to this, Joe notes, "I'm more of a background guy."

Also a solutions guy. Their parents initially had been against the idea of elaborate holiday displays, Andrew says. "So it was a challenge, you know? 'Can we do this?' Because we had to ask permission." And they had to be creative. Told, for instance, not to staple strings of lights to the roof, "Joe made these special plastic brackets … to hug around the edge of the roof so that we wouldn't do any damage to the house."

Their folks eventually came around, Andrew adds. And despite the time and effort — the displays take about four weeks to assemble but the brothers work on them year-round, building motors and computerizing the lights and many moving parts — they're not ending the tradition just yet.

"No," Andrew says with a laugh, "We can't because as we're setting it up this year, we're already talking about next year!"