QUEENS, NY (TIP): Borough President Melinda Katz @MelindaKatz, in partnership with NYC Parks, NYC & Company Foundation and Delta Air Lines, unveiled further details about the upcoming “#OnlyinQueens” Summer Festival to take place on Sunday, June 26 from 1:00 – 8:00 PM in Flushing Meadows Corona Park. Admission is free and open to the public.
Delta Airlines Scavenger Hunt : Back by popular demand, the park-wide Scavenger Hunt sponsored by Delta Air Lines will kick-off at 1:00 PM. Upon registration, teams of two to six people will be equipped with t-shirts, a map of the park, a tote bag and a list of new clues that will test participants’ knowledge of the 1939-40 and 1964-65 World’s Fairs and of the park as it is now. Throughout the Scavenger Hunt, each team will be directed to various cultural institutions and other locations throughout the park and receive a token to prove they were there. The teams that have collected the most tokens by 4:00 PM will be declared the winners. Prizes for the winning team and top runners-up include VIP tickets to a SummerStage show at Central Park; tickets to a performance at the Forest Hills Stadium, the Kupferberg Center for the Arts or the July 4th Louis Armstrong Birthday Bash; Family Membership to the Museum of the Moving Image; gift basket and membership to the Queens Botanical Garden. Participants must register for the Scavenger Hunt in-person between 12:00 – 1:00 PM on the day of the event at the Queens Theatre, located adjacent to the New York State Pavilion.
Literary Tent : Visitors can meet and hear from Queens authors from 1:00 – 5:00 PM. Appearances will include children’s authors such as Michelle Schusterman, author of I Heart Band, The Kat Sinclair Files and Maudeville; Ama Karikari Yawson, author of Kwanzaa Nana series; and Sam Ita, author of the bestselling pop-up versions of 20,000 Leagues under the Sea, Moby-Dick and Frankenstein.
Food, Arts and Craft Vendors : Independent vendors of the Queens International Night Market will feature some of their best foods, arts and merchandise for purchase, including Romanian-Hungarian chimney cakes by TwisterCake, Sri Lankan cuisine by Ceylon, kati rolls by Kati Roll Shack, takoyaki from Karl’s Balls, mochi waffles from Moffle Bar and more.
Open House Tour of the New York State Pavilion : Members of the media are invited to participate in an Open House Tour of the New York State Pavilion from 1:30 – 2:00 PM, where Borough President Katz, the National Trust for Historic Preservation and People for the Pavilion will be available to talk about the Pavilion’s influence, its importance to the Queens’ community and the international design competition currently underway until July 1. Additional tour time slots are available throughout the day. Tours will include the inside of the “Tent of Tomorrow,” the Pavilion’s main exhibition space that once dazzled and delighted attendees of the 1964-65 World’s Fair. They will also see from the inside where the world’s largest suspension roof rose up and take a look at the remaining 567-panel terrazzo road map of the Empire State that once greeted visitors.
Music and Cultural Performances : An eclectic, multicultural array of bands and groups that represent the diversity of Queens will fill the park with music throughout the day as part of the Summer 2016 Katz Concert Series in partnership with NYC Parks and the Kupferberg Center for the Arts:
1:00 PM – The Queen’s Cartoonists offer a tour-de-force of the Swing Era’s zaniest and most creative music, much of which was written for or adapted for classic cartoons. The band’s repertoire includes cartoon music from the 1920’s all the way to the present day.
1:45 PM – Radio Jarocho plays “son jarocho” music fashioned after the towns, musicians and swampy countryside that created it in Veracruz, Mexico. The band’s members also write their own songs inspired by this popular genre and tailor them with assorted influences, creating a contemporary repertoire that captures the spirit of the traditional style.
2:30 PM – Kumbakin is a Cuban-inspired dance band lead by Puerto Rican singer Jainardo Batista (also known as Yemal Melódico).
3:15 PM – FJ Music was founded by Feifei Yang and Jiaju She, who are dedicated to the international promotion of Chinese traditional music and to integrating Chinese musical language with diverse world music genres.
4:00 PM – Zikrayat is an Arab music and dance ensemble dedicated to presenting the classical music and the dance traditions of Egypt, Lebanon and the greater Arab world, in vibrant stage productions evoking the theatrical atmosphere and dramatic depth of classic Egyptian musical cinema. Alternating vocal and instrumental numbers with solo and group dance numbers, Zikrayat’s mission is to highlight the diversity of Arab culture for mainstream Western audiences in an authentic yet entertaining contemporary representation.
The SummerStage outdoor concert in partnership with the City Parks Foundation will begin at 4:30 PM at the Festival Site in the park, with performances by hip hop group and Queens’ own KID ‘N PLAY, singer/actor TRISTAN “MACK” WILDS of the HBO drama “The Wire” and the CW series “90210”, R&B singer GINUWINE and music by Queens native DJ CAMILO of Hot 97. Funding for the SummerStage concert comes from the Flushing Meadows Corona Park Improvement Fund, administered by City Comptroller Scott Stringer, Borough President Katz and NYC Parks.
The “Only in Queens” Summer Festival will offer a wide range of activities for people of all ages, including:
● Guided tours of the New York State Pavilion’s Tent of Tomorrow, the Queens Library Mobile Unit and the Queens Museum (tours of the Queens Theatre will no longer be provided);
● Family-friendly fun including cultural performances, face painting, inflatable bounce houses, activities run by the United States Tennis Association, and an appearance by Mr. Met;
● Exhibits of memorabilia from the original 1939-40 and 1964-65 World’s Fairs, classic cars and a boat from the annual Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival;
● Virtual reality demonstrations by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the group People for the Pavilion and Queens-based RPGA Studio as part of the international ideas competition currently underway to solicit imaginative and creative public input for how the New York State Pavilion can best be adapted for public reuse.
Additional co-sponsors for the “Only in Queens” Summer Festival include TD Bank, the New York Daily News, Vio/K Marketing Group and Resorts World Casino, New York City. For more information, go to www.queensbp.org/onlyinqueens.
This year’s “Only in Queens” Summer Festival follows two successful World’s Fair Anniversary Festivals, held in 2014 and 2015 in celebration of the 75th anniversary of the 1939-40 World’s Fair and the 50th anniversary of the 1964-1965 World’s Fair, and organized by the World’s Fair Anniversary Committee (co-chaired by Borough President Katz and State Assemblymember Margaret Markey) in collaboration with NYC Parks.
Follow Borough President Katz via @MelindaKatz or www.facebook.com/queensbpkatz