Sycamore family Bears down with light show: ‘It’s kind of been a whirlwind’

A Sycamore dad said, “It’s been tough to be a Bears fan.”

So he’s pledged to keep up his Chicago Bears-themed light show display for the full extent of the team’s long-awaited playoff run.

On Thursday, the Sycamore-based Caravia family, comprised of Tim, Jen and Emmet Caravia, posted a video of a new Bears light display that has been strung up outside their home.

Their efforts resonated with thousands of people online. By 4 p.m. on Friday, less than 21 hours after the post was created, their video was viewed more than 38,000 times.

“It’s kind of been a whirlwind since I got it out there,” Tim Caravia, 45, said of their popular Bears light display video post.

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A Chicago Bears light show put together by Tim Caravia and his family plays Friday, Jan. 16, 2025, at his home on Dustin Drive in Sycamore. The show will run from 5:30 to 9:00 p.m. most days until the Bears season ends. (Mark Busch)

The Caravias are known for his Halloween and Christmas light displays, which feature custom-made sequences of light patterns set to music. Tim’s created and displayed those light shows in Sycamore for the past five years.

But this holiday season, he and his wife, Jen Caravia, decided they wanted to celebrate the Bears’ playoff run.

“This was totally 100%, this was her idea,” Tim Caravia said.

The six-minute Bears light show can be seen daily from 5:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. outside of 2307 Dustin Dr. in Sycamore, but it isn’t guaranteed to last.

Tim said they will keep the display going for as long as the team remains in the National Football League’s playoffs.

The display includes a projection of Bears fight song videos on a garage door exterior and a slew of lights strung across their home that have been programmed to change with the music being played.

Tim created those sequences himself.

Tim Caravia, his wife Jen and son Emmett, 9, in front of their home as it plays a Chicago Bears light show Friday, Jan. 16, 2025, on Dustin Drive in Sycamore. The show will run from 5:30 to 9:00 p.m. most days until the Bears season ends. (Mark Busch)

For posterity and for those who can’t make the drive to see the display in person, and in case the Bears lose to the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday at Soldier Field in Chicago, Tim posted a video of the entire six-minute light show on YouTube.

He said it’s not the first time his light sequences have garnered attention online. On Dec. 5, he posted a video of a Bluey-themed light display he had created for the popular children’s cartoon that has garnered 1.1 million viewers on TikTok in six weeks.

He said he’s happy his hobby makes people happy.

“The thing is, I don’t make any money on any of this,” Tim Caravia said. “Zero dollars. We’ve never made a dollar on anything since we’ve done this for five years, and there’s just no reason to make it a business.”

Tim said the community knows to drive by their house during the usual holidays of Christmas and Halloween, so when he turned on the Bears display this week, there wasn’t an immediate reaction.

That’s expected to change Friday night, because even the Bears organization took notice of their fandom.

In a post that acknowledged the Caravias’ support for the team, the Chicago Bears’ Facebook page commented with a bear emoji on the Caravia Family Light Show video that can only be construed to mean one thing: Bear down.