Hey folks, hope you enjoyed the fall! Getting hot again today!

What's going on in the neighborhood this week?

Saturday, October 3

Sunnyside/Woodside

• SWMA Volunteer Shifts — Help at Rusty Wheelbarrow Farm or distribute food at pop-up pantries at Woodside Houses and the 61st Street Station.

Jackson Heights

• 10:00 AM–12:00 PM — 34 Ave World Bike Ride — Starts at 93rd St & 34th Ave. Beginner-friendly neighborhood ride; Citi Bike riders must be 16+.
• 12:00–1:30 PM — Jackson Heights JuiceBox JukeJoint — The World’s Borough Bookshop. World music for kids, caregivers and anyone else who wants to join in.
• 10:00 AM–12:00 PM — Toastmasters International: America’s Best — Elmhurst Hospital + Zoom. Community public-speaking practice.

Astoria

• 12:30 PM — 31st Ave Open Street — This week includes a jigsaw puzzle swap, Hispanic Heritage Month literacy event, Indivisible Western Queens and NYC Trivia League.
• 2:30 PM — Bohemian Battles — Bohemian Hall & Beer Garden. Live full-contact medieval armored combat with real steel weapons.
• 4:00 PM — Café con Arte: Celebrating Latino Artists & Creatives — LM Cafe. FREE event featuring local Latino artists and creatives, art for sale, food and community.

Sunday, October 4

Sunnyside

• 1:00–7:00 PM — TASTE OF SUNNYSIDE 2026 — COMMUNITY PICK The big one this week. The 16th annual neighborhood restaurant crawl features 70 participating Sunnyside restaurants, bars, cafés and other food businesses. Tickets seem to be sold out, but I've seen a few sales go down here or through Facebook.

Jackson Heights

• 11:00–11:15 AM — Pages in the Park: New by Niña Mata — Travers Park. Neighborhood kids' storytime.
• 12:00 PM — 🎉 Queens Hispanic Parade — 37th Avenue from 69th to 86th Street. One of the strongest community events this week: nearly 100 cultural, civic and business groups are expected, with music, dancing, traditional costumes, floats and food. It’s combined with the Queens Dominican Parade after last weekend’s storm forced a postponement.

Astoria

• 1:00 PM — 4th Annual Mystic Mega Market — 31st Avenue Open Street. FREE multicultural market with crafts, art, food, workshops, astrologers, tarot/palm readers, psychics and healers.
• 6:00 PM — Maddie McClouskey & Brandon James Gwinn Are Unsupervised — SingleCut Tap Room. '90s/early-2000s nostalgia cabaret

Monday, October 5

Jackson Heights

• 6:00–7:30 PM — Spanish Conversation Club — 93rd St & 34th Ave. Casual Spanish conversation practice with no quizzes or pressure.

Who's going to Taste of Sunnyside? Where are you excited to eat, or what are you looking forward to trying?

Hey y'all, I am out on vacation this week so I'm gonna skip the roundup and instead see what y'all got going on this week?

I will share that Sunnyside Trash Club is meeting at Ora La Casa De Las Flores Sunday at 10 AM and last week had FIFTY TWO neighbors (and 3 pups)!!! Holy smokes, everyone. That's amazing, and I'm so proud to be part of such a wonderful community keeping our neighborhood clean.

Someone just dropped out of my fantasy football league a little last minute (we're drafting on Monday!). It's a $20 buy in, 10 team league, and we're looking for someone who ideally will come watch a few games throughout the season in the neighborhood & who likes some trash talking.

If anyone is still looking to join a FF team, let me know!! I'd love to have someone in before we draft!

Hey, I'm a New Yorker but will be visiting Minneapolis during this weekends' first games. Anywhere people are watching that might be open to a non-local tagging along? Would love to meet some other people who are into/getting into this league!

Hello, and hope everyone is ready for a great weekend! I'm actually on a bus heading out of town for the weekend, so instead of listing a bunch of events, I'm going to shout out the roundup emails that do all the hard work in finding these events!

First is This Week with SWMA. Shout out to SWMA for being a fantastic group providing mutual aid in the community.

Next, is ✨️This Week in Astoria which also includes some rumors as well as a ton of weekly events in the neighborhood next door.

We also have 🥟Jackson Heights Insider to provide more information to our other neighbors. Tons of free and community based events!

Lastly, I look at Sunnyside Shines. They have some great updates on what's going on in the neighborhood from cultural events at the plazas to new news from the local businesses.

Also will plug a follow for Sunnyside Trash Club which has been a GREAT group to be a part of. It is so amazing to walk around with all the neighbors helping make it beautiful. Check them out SATURDAY this week meeting at Green Leafs Juice Bar.

You tell me what I'm missing this weekend!

Hey, just wanted to see if anyone was able to go this weekend? Unfortunately I had planned on the 18th but already had plans on the 25th. Wondering if anyone went to the wrestling and how was it?

It's fireworks season, everyone! If you hear loud noises, that's probably what was going on. Yesterday were Astoria's annual fireworks, but I'm sure we'll hear more individual ones coming up in the next few weeks.

Hopefully you voted this past week. We had a few wins in Sunnyside with Claire Valdez for congress from the 7th district, Aber Kawas as our state senate rep for district 12, and Samantha Kattan for state assembly.

Yesterday was the Annual Sunnyside BID meeting! A few highlights:

• Sunnyside population: 64,006
• Subway ridership: 9.15k people per day entered 46th St Station, 7.12k at 40th St Station
• Median household income: $83,270
• Education: 52.4% of residents have a college degree or higher
• 22 new businesses opened in 2025-2026 (let's hear your faves!), putting 370 businesses within our BID
• Support and revenue went up from $779,397 in 2024-2025 to $966,719 for 2025-2026
• Expenses also went up from $798,773 (2024-2025) to $1,024,738 (2025-2026)
• There are some more specific numbers on that financial statement if anyone wants, but I was taking notes over it - but let me know if you want more here
• We have 197 tree beds in Sunnyside, and are doing a huge new tree project costing 216k (that we are working on getting funds currently released for from the sanitation department). There will be a community mulching in the fall if anyone is interested in volunteering!
• We're also getting metal newsboxes at 40th & 46th St
• Also on their way are the Empire Trash Bins. They'll be across the city by 2031, and we're supposed to be getting ours next year.
• We do 20+ community events annually, including our holiday lighting, night markets, cultural programming at the 40th & 46th St Plazas, restaurant weeks, SunnyPride, and so much more.
• There were quite a few speakers, and I missed some names, but here's my list:
  • Mark Levine, Comptroller
  • Gregory Anderson, Commissioner of NYC Department of Sanitation
  • Sam A. Levine, Commissioner of NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection
  • Ahmed Tigani, Commissioner of the NYC Department of Buildings
  • Missed her name, but someone spoke from the Office of Admin Trials + Hearings
  • Dirk McCall de Palomá, BID Executive Director

I ducked out before the new board election, but if anyone has any questions, I'll be happy to help find the info, or point you in the right direction.

This was already long on my part, so let's hear what you got!

A HUGE cheer for the Knicks this past weekend! Keep the celebrations going, and celebrate Juneteenth tomorrow! Juneteenth Celebration and Open Stage TONIGHT 6 - 9 PM at the Queens Theatre.

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Giving myself a round of applause as the old Malik's Grocery IS going to be a new deli. 42 Blvd Deli, in fact. Not open yet, but sign is up. Also saw Taco & Dumpling getting worked on yesterday. They were taking down the wall paper. Not sure if anything else is already going into the space, but they're making moves.

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Sunnyside Trash Club meets tomorrow at 10 AM at Sloth Brewing Co. Come meet neighbors & help clean the neighborhood!

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Tomorrow in Astoria is Open Streets and Community Cookout with Tikkun BBQ! I'll be at Diamond Dogs at 4 PM with a Beers with Queers meetup if anyone wants to come through! Lots of fun all day, and showing Men in Black once it gets dark.

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Astoria also running Pride at Socrates Park on Saturday. Celebrations starting at 12 PM (and then maybe head over to Diamond Dogs 😉) Socrates on Sunday is their Annual Solstice Celebration, 5 PM - 8:30.

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The New York Blood Center has declared a blood emergency. A mobile blood drive will be at Mount Sinai Queens Monday, 12–6pm.

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In Jackson Heights - DOT Open Streets & Acoustic Memories Presents: The Street Is Ours 25 Years Of Terraza 7 | Sunday, June 21, 1:00 PM to 8:00 PM | Terraza 7, 40-19 Gleane St

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Leon Von Holden Memorial Health Fair Expo | 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM | Corona District Health Center • wellness, giveaways, kids corner TOMORROW.

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Also tomorrow, Queer A.R.T. Fair | 1:00 PM to 6:00 PM | Art Retail Therapy

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More outdoor art in Jackson Heights on Sunday with the Les Petites Gallery 9 AM - 6 PM on 34th Ave & 83rd St, AND the On the Fence Outdoor Art Show 10 - 5 on 34th Ave & 79th St.

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Wonder what's going on with our local BID? Catch up on how we're keeping Sunnyside great! Sunnyside Shines annual BID meeting will be at the Sunnyside Community Services Center on THURSDAY starting at 5 PM.

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Don't forget it's early voting, and to get out to the polls!!! If you don't make it out by Sunday, TUESDAY is election day! This is your local primary - can't get more important than that!

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Today is SunnyPride! Kicking off at 5:30 PM under the arch. It's going to be a great time! Make the march over to the 40th St/Lowery Plaza for the pride makers market and the stage show. Unfortunately, I will not be there tonight, but I've been helping with the planning meetings and it's going to kick ass!

Also, noted last week that the old Malik's Grocery is looking like it's going to be a deli, and after seeing inside again while they're working, I'm pretty convinced of it. The space that had Foodmandu is also doing work inside, but not sure what that's going to be. Looks like they added maybe bathrooms, or some smaller rooms in the back.

From SWMA:

• Free Zumba at Moore Jackson Community Garden every Monday and Wednesday at 6 PM!
• Call for art. CRECE and Street Works are building a directory of Queens artists interested in presenting work in CRECE's beautiful space, scheduled to open in May 2026. All media are welcome. Click here to learn more and sign up to be part of the community art making. 
• The Rolling Library is doing a queer book fair on Saturday (June 13th) from noon - 4 PM at  Access Oasis Garden, 21st and Hoyt Avenue North.
• Or head to the anti-casino rally at Citi Field tomorrow starting at 1 PM.

There's also a makers market pop up in Astoria tomorrow at Side B, 36-12 34th Ave, Astoria, NY 11106 from 12 PM - 6 PM.

Hit up a free Grateful Dead-inspired mini music festival at Culture Lab LIC. I hear u/tikkunbbq will be there!

​Free Pilates/Barre, Yoga & Fitness Challenges at the Destination Ditmars Summer Fest Block Party​
11:30am, 23rd Ave between 29th & 31st St, YUG
Join YUG at the Destination Ditmars Summer Fest for free outdoor Pilates/Barre and yoga classes, plus fitness contests with prizes.

Astoria's Pride Parade will be on Saturday. The festivities begin with a pre-party at Albatross from 4–6pm, followed by the march to Icon Bar via Kween at 6pm and an after-party at 7pm (held at Icon Bar).

Knicks in 5! Keeping my fingers crossed for a win on Saturday!

Happy Pride Month, y'all! I'm going to start off with SunnyPride is happening on Friday, June 12th! Unfortunately, I am not able to be there this year BUT I can promise it's going to be a great time! The SunnyPride committee has been making sure this will be a fantastic event, and it's kicking off at 5:30 at the Sunnyside Arch. Parade will be making it's way to the Lowery Plaza starting at 6:15 PM, and there will be a makers market and main stage with drag queens, music, and more until 9 PM. Really want to help out? Donate to Sunnypride here!

The larger Queens Pride Parade (one of the biggest Pride celebrations in the city) will be Sunday, June 7th and will be kicking off in Jackson Heights starting at 12 PM.

My hyperlocal rumor is about the old Malik's Grocery -- some serious renovation has been done. Looking like it may be a deli to me, but would love to know if anyone has more details.

Also, it was noted last week, but officially saw the for rent sign, Blvd Diner is officially closed and renting out it's space.

I also generally keep this for the week ahead (too much to deal with otherwise), but I want to get the Sunnyside Shines Annual BID meeting on everyone's radar as a great way to know about what the BID did this year, and plans for going forward. That's going to be Thursday, June 25th from 5 - 6:30 PM at Sunnyside Community Services. Keynote speaker is going to be comptroller Mark Levine. This is a great way to know what's going on in the neighborhood, meet your neighborhood government, and learn what upcoming projects are!

Some great Pride events coming from LaGuardia Performing Arts Center are coming up!

TONIGHT at 6:30 PM for free (with RSVP) at the Little Theater will be Julio of Jackson Heights. Julio of Jackson Heights tells the story of the political awakening of New York’s largest and, up to that moment, most closeted LGBTQ community.

Next week at the Little Theater, catch My Sunnyside (also free!) about transgender couple Jo and Allie and their kids in Sunnyside. Thursday, June 11th starting at 6:30 PM.

Tonight is also New Member Orientation for SWMA. Starting at 6:30 PM with a 7:30 PM social hour at Gaza Deli & Grill in Woodside. SWMA is a great way to get involved!

Free Zumba this spring on Mondays & Wednesdays at Moore Jackson Community Garden at 6 PM through the month of June, weather permitting.

Tomorrow in Astoria will have Yoga in the Park at 10 AM on the Astoria Park Pool Deck.

Also tomorrow in Astoria from 1 - 4 PM at Open Streets ​Sustainable Stoop Sale & Swap – Fundraiser for @astoriafoodpantry

Looking to party? Millenial Warehouse Party at Culture Lab LIC FREE ADMISSION starting at 7 PM. 21+

On Sunday, check out the F1 Monaco Grand Prix Watch Party at Kitty Sullivan's starting at 9 AM.

Afterwards, get your dance on with Dance Astoria at the Bohemian Beer Garden at 1 PM.

Finish up your Sunday at Tootles and French for an 8 PM work-in-progress show, Natan Badalov (HBO, NY Comedy Festival) explores growing up Bukharian in NYC and American Jewish life.

Hope everyone is enjoying this kick-off to summer and Pride, and I'll see you all out there!

Hope everyone is having a great week! I started my garden this past week, and it's been loving the alternating rain and sun.

In morning news, if you got an Amazon delivery with razz-cranberry La Croix & Q-tips, Amazon apparently hates me and refuses to find my apartment so, enjoy.

For this week - Sunnyside Community Cultural Initiative is back at 40th St/Lowery Plaza with Liberty [classics] on June 4th!

From SWMA - Craft & Mending Circle. Join neighbors on Saturday, May 30th at Mosaic Community Center, 43-01A 46th Street to learn to mend and repair clothing in need of a little love.

And on Sunday: Community Skill Share. Join We the People on Sunday, May 31st for a community skill share event at Marcus Garvey Park in Manhattan.

SWMA New Member Orientation will be FRIDAY, June 5th. Orientation starts at 6:30 PM, social at 7:30 PM at Gaza Deli & Grill 50-60 48th Street in Woodside.

Hey folks, busy week for me so all I got is that you should go to the AAPI Month Night Market tonight at Lowery Plaza. Should be a great time.

Friends & neighbors, hello! Hope you all had a good week! Don't forget that this Sunday is Mother's Day, so call your mom & if you were planning on brunch, I hope you already have a reservation!

From my side of the block, QBK leagues are starting up NEXT WEEK. If you're interested in some beach volleyball leagues, join us for our next season of leagues! Sign ups for 4s end today and we'd love to have our neighbors involved!

If you haven't noticed yet, there's live music at the plazas every Thursday starting April till September from local talent!

This week Mike with the Sax will be at the 40th St-Lowery Plaza starting at 4:30 PM!

Roundup from SWMA:

May Skillshare. Join SWMA for our May skillshare to talk about facilitation, decision-making, and how we work together successfully on Thursday, May 14th, beginning at 7:00 PM. Learn more and RSVP here.

Free bike helmets at Crocheron Park on Saturday 11 AM - 3 PM. Free bike lights 5/12 on Skillman & 43rd St, and 5/14 Vernon & 31st both 4 PM - 7 PM.

From This Week In Jackson Heights:

On Saturday, Clean Cut Grooves, Barbershop DJ Session | 12:00 PM to 3:00 PM | Hugo Ace Barbershop • Haircuts meet DJ sets, very Roosevelt Ave → Catch the clean cuts

Also on Saturday Music Show: Dan Strauss | 8:30 PM to 10:00 PM | Espresso 77 • Alternative folk, thoughtful songs, excellent coffeehouse mood → Hear the stories

And on Sunday - Pages in the Park: What Kind of Queen? by Cindy Lozito | 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM | Travers Park • Picture book biography, author celebration, preorder perks, park joy → Meet a true queen

34 Ave Bike Classes, All Ages | 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM | 34th Avenue & 93rd Street • Bike lessons for kids and adults, helmets sponsored, no Tour de France pressure → Learn to ride

Or on Monday - Monday Social Walk | 6:00 PM to 7:00 PM | Junction Boulevard & 34th Avenue • Easy 2 to 3 mile neighbor walk, start the week upright → Walk it out

Peer-to-Business Networking Mixer for Students | Mon May 11, 12:30 PM to 1:30 PM | Queens College • Students, energy careers, refreshments, free → Make the connection

Don't forget - Queens Night Market is back and will be open tomorrow night!