Girl Scouts' annual drive-through holiday light show returns to Shirley
Lily Smith, an 8-year-old Girl Scout from Patchogue, was thrilled to see a display that she designed light up at this year's 17th annual drive through Smith Point Light Show in Shirley.
Lily is one of five Suffolk County scouts whose creations are brought to life; her display is a rainbow but cookies are at the ends instead of pots of gold. "The colors were a bit mixed up," Lily says — the chocolate chips in the cookies, for instance, are blue instead of brown, she says. "It still looked the way I wanted it."
Portrait of Girl Scout Lily Smith with the Rainbow Holiday Light display she designed for the Smith Point Holiday Lightt Show sponsored by the Girl Scouts. Credit: Newsday/Thomas A. Ferrara
The light show kicked off Dec. 1 at Smith Point County Park, spearheaded by the Girl Scouts of Suffolk County. The mile-long route also includes light displays of the Empire State Building, a candy factory, Santa Claus on a tropical vacation, a menorah and more.
This is the first year that the scouts held a competition for displays by local girls, and from the 70 submissions the lighting designers chose ones they felt weren’t too complex to replicate, says Pamela Mastrota, chief executive and president of the Girl Scouts of Suffolk County.
Allie Manetta, 12, of Babylon, submitted two snowmen with their arms around each other, one wearing a Girl Scout vest and the other wearing a Girl Scout sash. At the base is the word "kind." "I wanted to submit it because I love art and Girl Scouts," she says.
Portrait of Girl Scout Allie Manetta with the Snowman Holiday Light display she designed for the Smith Point Holiday Lightt Show sponsored by the Girl Scouts of Suffolk County. Credit: Newsday/Thomas A. Ferrara
Participants will be given 3D fireworks glasses for the ride. "When you look through them at night, it kind of makes everything pop and look three dimensional," Mastrota says. "It’s such an opportunity to have a holiday event and be safe."
The light show is co-sponsored by Suffolk County. Since the event outgrew its space at that Girl Scout’s Camp Edey in Bayport in 2016, it has been held at Smith Point County Park. Last year, more than 50,000 people attended.
"This is our biggest fundraiser of the year," Mastrota says. "Like many nonprofits, we’ve been negatively impacted by the pandemic." Summer camp, for instance, had to be canceled this year, she says.
Tickets are $22 per car if purchased online at smithpointlightshow.com and $25 at the gate. Tickets must be purchased using a credit card to ensure contactless interaction. Hours are 5 to 9 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays and 5 to 10 p.m. Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from Dec. 1 to Dec. 30, with extended hours closer to Christmas. Tickets do not have to be used on specific dates.
Beth Whitehouse writes about families, parenting and great things to do with the kids on Long Island. She’s been a Newsday editor and shared a 1997 Newsday staff Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the crash of TWA Flight 800.
