News From The Queens Tourism Council
Get ready for a huge week with the annual Maker Faire and County Fair. In addition, pop sensation Jason Mraz, eternal Grateful Dead guitarist Phil Lesh, and alternative rock phenomenon The Replacements come to Queens.
Plus, three Latin culture events compete with each other, as do various foodie extravaganzas.
Here’s the rundown.
• Today (Thursday) Sept. 18, Lunch with Snowday Food Truck, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. This truck serves maple-themed dishes, such as maple grilled cheese sandwiches, made with ingredients sourced from local farms. It is operated by clients of Drive Change, a nonprofit that trains and employs formerly incarcerated youth. Items are between $3 and $10. Dutch Kills Green, 41st Avenue and Northern Boulevard, LIC, www.snowdayfoodtruck.com.
• Friday, Sept. 19, Jason Mraz and Raining Jane in All Five Boroughs, 8 p.m. One of the hardest working and most beloved artists, Jason Mraz has gone from coffee houses to stadiums all over the world. This two-time Grammy winner and six-time nominee made pop history with his record-breaking classic single, “I’m Yours,” while also earning platinum and multiplatinum certifications in more than 20 countries. Prices vary. Colden Auditorium, 65-30 Kissena Blvd., Flushing, www.kupferbergcenter.org.
• Friday, Sept. 19, Arturo O’Farrill Quartet, 8 p.m. A night of hot Latin jazz with Grammywinning pianist, composer, and educator Arturo O’Farrill and his quartet. $25. Flushing Town Hall, 137-35 Northern Blvd., Flushing, www.flushingtownhall.org.
• Friday, Sept. 19, The Replacements, 6:30 p.m. The Forest Hills Stadium, where the Beatles and the Rolling Stones once played, is revamped and ready to host this alternative rock concert. $59.50, 1 Tennis Pl., Forest Hills Gardens, www.foresthillsstadium.com.
• Friday, Sept. 19, Eat In Astoria Food Festival, runs until Sept. 28. Enjoy specials and celebrate Astoria’s unique food culture during its first-ever restaurant week, www.eatinastoria.com.
• Friday, Sept. 19, Irish Documentary Movie Night w/Q&A, 7:30 p.m. The Irish Pub is about one of the Emerald Isle’s most treasured institutions. It features stories pub owners tell of history, culture, politics, sports, and religion, and how we are when we gather together. One of the film’s producers, Alex Regan, participates in a Q&A after the screening. New York Irish Center, 10-40 Jackson Ave., LIC, www.newyorkirishcenter.org.
• Friday, Sept. 19, Millennium Mambo, 7:30 p.m. The Museum of theMoving Image (MMI) presents a series on Hou Hsiao-hsien, the leading figure of the Taiwanese New Cinema movement. Millennium Mambo depicts a young bar hostess fed up with her jealous boyfriend. She finds a refuge of sorts with a gangster. MMI, 36-01 35th Ave., Kaufman Arts District, www.movingimage.us.
• Friday, Sept. 19, 22nd Anniversary Party, 4 to 7 p.m. Austin’s Ale House celebrates its longevity with drinks, a buffet and a live deejay. $22. 82-70 Austin St., Kew Gardens, 718-849-3939.
• Saturday, Sept. 20, Maker Faire, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. (also Sunday, Sept. 21, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m). More than 750 makers—including tech enthusiasts, tinkerers, hobbyists, engineers, and artists— show off their creations and hands-on activities. Expect everything from personal drones to humanoid robots that can take blood pressure and dispense medications. Prices vary. New York Hall of Science, 47-01 111th St., Corona, www.makerfaire.com.
• Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 20- 21, 32nd Annual Queens County Fair, 11 a.m to 6 p.m. A traditional county fair with blue-ribbon competitions in livestock, produce, and home crafts. Events include pieeating and corn-husking contests, pig races, hay rides, carnival rides, a Bavarian garden with live music, a corn maze, and even an adopt-aworm booth. $9/$5 for children under 13. Queens County Farm Museum, 73-50 Little Neck Pkwy., Floral Park, www.queensfarm.org.
• Saturday, Sept. 20, Viva la Comida, 1 to 8 p.m. This annual extravaganza showcases food from street vendors and restaurants along 82nd Street. Food legends include the Arepa Lady, D’Angelo’s Sausage & Peppers, Mama’s Food, and Potala Fresh Momo. Other fun includes live music by Jay Rodriguez Trio, Chia Dance Party and Gerardo Contino y sus Habaneros. Family fun includes magic shows, arts and crafts, art installations and the Chiva party bus. 82nd Street and Roosevelt Avenue, Jackson Heights, www.vivalacomida.com.
• Saturday, Sept. 20, Hands-on History: We the People, noon to 3 p.m. Happy Constitution Day! Create American flags in 19th century designs and practice writing with a quill and ink on fancy paper. Tour the museum and learn about Rufus King’s role in writing and signing the Constitution. Free. King Manor Museum, King Park, Jamaica Avenue between 150th and 153rd streets, Jamaica, www.kingmanor.org.
• Saturday, Sept. 20, Villalobos Brothers, 2 and 4 p.m. This group blends the indigenous rhythms and melodies of Xalapa in Mexico’s Veracruz with the intricate harmonies of jazz and classical music in a bilingual program. Suggested for ages five and up. Free. Queens Flushing Library, 41-17 Main St., www.villalobosbrothers.com.
• Saturday, Sept. 20, The World of the 7 Train: A Walking Tour Presented by Jack Eichenbaum, 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. This tour with the borough’s official historian focuses on the 7 train’s impact on surrounding neighborhoods since it began service in 1914. Walks take place in LIC, Sunnyside, Woodside, Jackson Heights, and Corona with a lunch stop in Flushing. $40, registration required. For more information, contact Eichenbaum at jaconet@aol.com.
• Saturday, Sept. 20, Panel Discussion: The Genealogy of Patronage in Museums, 3 p.m. Researchers discuss corporate sponsorship of museums. One participant is Alice Bell, a freelance journalist and editor of The Guardian’s science section. Another is Wayne Modest, director of the Research Centre for Material Culture at the National Museum of Ethnography and head of the Curatorial Department at the Tropenmuseum in Amsterdam. Queens Museum, New York City Building, Flushing Meadows Corona Park, www.queensmuseum.org.
• Saturday, Sept. 20, Glory, 1 p.m. To commemorate the Civil War’s 150th Anniversary, the Greater Astoria Historical Society screens Glory, a feature film about the first all-black regiment in the Civil War. Free. GAHS, Queens Building, 35-20 Broadway, Fourth Floor, LIC, www.astorialic.org.
• Saturday, Sept. 20, International Fight Night, 7 p.m. New Legend Boxing presents a night of professional boxing with Frank Galarza as the main event. $50. Resorts World Casino New York City, 110-00 Rockaway Blvd., Jamaica, www.rwnewyork.com.
• Saturday, Sept. 20, Good Men, Good Women, 2:30 p.m. The Museum of the Moving Image presents a series on Hou Hsiaohsien, the leading figure of the Taiwanese New Cinema movement. While actress Liang Ching is preparing to perform in a 1940s-set historical epic on anti-Japanese resistance called “Good Men, Good Women,” someone is terrorizing her by faxing her pages from her stolen diary. Her story is criss-crossed by colorful flashbacks to an affair, as well as black-and-white, filmwithin a-film scenes in which Liang imagines actual Japanese resistance. MMI, 36-01 35th Ave., Kaufman Arts District, www.movingimage.us.
• Sunday, Sept. 21, Solar System Walk, 3:30 p.m. This event is part of the exhibition Bringing the World into theWorld. It includes a guided, 1.5-hour, family-friendly tour of Chris Burden’s Scale Model of the Solar System (placed in Queens Museum and throughout the surrounding area). Burden’s work is a scale model in size and distance of the solar system where the Sun is represented by a sphere 13 inches in diameter and 40 inches in circumference and is placed just above the Bronx on the Panorama of the City of New York. Each planet of the solar system is constructed at the correct scale and is placed at the correct distance in relation to the Sun across and beyond Flushing Meadows Corona Park. The tour starts at the Sun and ends at Pluto located at Leo’s Latticini (46-02 104th St., Corona). For more information and to RSVP (free, but spots are limited), try exhibitions@queensmuseum.org. QM, New York City Building, Flushing Meadows Corona Park, www.queensmuseum.org.
• Sunday, Sept. 21, Phil Lesh & Friends, 6 p.m. Former Grateful Dead guitar player Phil Lesh, who is entering his 15th year of playing with a rotating mix of friends, performs. Phil has kept his musical journey fresh by constantly putting together bands featuring dynamic, exciting musicians and singers dedicated to keeping the Grateful Dead’s music moving forward. $30- 99.50, Forest Hills Stadium, One Tennis Place, Forest Hills Gardens, www.foresthillsstadium.com.
• Sunday, Sept. 21, New York on Location, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Museum of the Moving Image, Theatrical Teamsters Local 817, and Kaufman Astoria Studios present a day-long, family-friendly outdoor event that offers a behind-the-scenes look at film production in NYC. Attendees get the rare opportunity to go inside 20+ working movie trailers and trucks and speak directly with movie professionals about what they do on set. Trucks include star dressing rooms, electrical, grip, prop, camera, hair and makeup, wardrobe, and special effects trucks. Key film craftspeople demonstrate and explain their roles in the moviemaking process. In addition, stunt professionals present high falls, street fighting, stunt driving, and more. Free. The gated backlot at KAS (current home to Orange Is the New Black, Nurse Jackie, Sesame Street, and other productions), 36th Street between 34th and 35th avenues, Kaufman Arts District, www.movingimage.us.
• Sunday, Sept. 21, Preserving the Harvest, 1 p.m. A hands-on workshop on the basics of canning and lacto-fermentation. Learn about safe food preservation and fermentation’s health benefits. $10/$5 for children. Flushing Town Hall, 137-35 Northern Blvd., Flushing, www.flushingtownhall.org.
• Sunday, Sept. 21, Carnaval de la Cultura Latina, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. This event promotes Latino art, music, dance, and food. There is a health-and-wellness component, and children’s entertainment includes a petting zoo, pony rides, and inflatables. Free. Junction Boulevard between Roosevelt and 37th avenues, Corona, www.carnavalculturalatina.com.
• Sunday, Sept. 21, Between Lands & Legends, 3 p.m. In this movie, Niamh O’ Hara is entrusted by her class to take charge of an important homework assignment. Niamh is left feeling powerless when she discovers that Granny O’ Hara’s apartment doesn’t even have an Internet connection. Can Granny O’ Hara and her wisdom save the day? Niamh isn’t too hopeful, but soon discovers there is much more to Granny O Hara than meets the eye. $20/$15 for children and senior/$60 for family ticket (two adults and two children). New York Irish Center, 10-40 Jackson Ave., LIC, www.newyorkirishcenter.org.
• Sunday, Sept. 21, Broadway- Astoria Merchants & Professionals Street Fair, noon to 6 p.m. Broadway between Crescent and Steinway streets, www.centralastoria.org.
• Sunday, Sept. 21, Sunnyside Gardens Park Annual Yard Sale, noon to 5 p.m. Check out homemade treasures. Free. 49th Street and 39th Avenue, Sunnyside. www.sunnysidegardenspark.org.
• Sunday, Sept. 21, 16th Annual Hispanic Heritage Month Celebration, 2:30 p.m. The Latin American Cultural Center of Queens honors the richness and diversity of the Latino community with the dance and music of talented artists such as Fuerza Peruana and Sisa Pakari. The Renaissance Charter School, 35-59 81st St., Jackson Heights, 718-261-7664.
• Sunday, Sept. 21, The Boys of Fengkuei, 5 p.m.; Taipei Story, 7:30 p.m. The Museum of the Moving Image presents a series on Hou Hsiao-hsien, the leading figure of the Taiwanese New Cinema movement. In The Boys from Fengkuei, three teens in limbo before their compulsory military service travel from their fishing village to the second-largest city in Taiwan, where they find part-time employment. This coming-of-agestory is a string of moving vignettes, showing the boys roughhousing, sneaking into an arthouse, and following a buddy who becomes enamored of a hoodlum’s girlfriend. In Taipei Story, the protagonist abandons his dream of a baseball career, returns to Taiwan from the United States, and joins his family’s textile business. While he is lodged in the past, his real-estate developer girlfriend sees career opportunities ahead, and their relationship comes apart. MMI, 36-01 35th Ave., Kaufman Arts District, www.movingimage.us.
The “It’s In Queens” column is produced by the Queens tourism Council with the hope that readers will enjoy the borough’s many attractions. More info available online at www.itsinqueens.com.
