What To Do For Summer Vacation

The Queens Courier goes to press, the calendar takes its annual friendly turn toward summer.
The good thing about living in Queens is that this welcome news can be met with three months worth of weekend activities without ever having to leave the borough.
While most of us will probably at some point take a trip out to Jones Beach or over to the Jersey shore, there is plenty of summer fun right here at home to tide us over ’til fall.
Start out with the fact that Queens is home to the most parkland of any borough in the city — in fact, more than one-third of the green patches on city maps, 112 square miles, are in our borough.
Flushing Meadows-Corona Park acts as the crown jewel for our parks. There alone, Queens boasts two beautiful lakes — Meadow and Willow — along with picnic grounds, bike paths, the Unisphere, and, oh yeah, the Mets at Shea Stadium and the USTA National Tennis Center, which lights up our August and September nights.
Move east from Flushing Meadows and you’ll find Kissena Park, replete with the Kissena Velodrome, ballfields and a public golf course.
Continue on the greenway and you’ll come to Cunningham Park. On Thursday, July 14 at 8 p.m. you can enjoy the New York Philharmonic there. This annual favorite features Wagner and Tchaikovsky this time around.
In Alley Pond Park you’ll find tennis courts and a greenway that extends north along the Cross Island Parkway along Little Neck Bay to the city’s newest parkland at Fort Totten. Take in some history here with a guided tour of Civil War-era fortifications.
On the other end of the borough is Astoria Park. There’s a public pool here, as well as beautiful grassy areas for picnicking and views of the East River and the Manhattan skyline. Moving south and east, you’ll find Juniper Valley Park, home of Sunday softball leagues and Forest Park, with yet another public golf course. And all the way south, there’s Baisley Pond Park and Brookville Park, both natural beauties.
So take a summer vacation right here in Queens. There’s plenty to see and do across our great borough.