A handful of business leaders in Astoria came together to gift the neighborhood with a Christmas tree just in time for the holidays.
On Wednesday, Dec. 2, the Athens Square Tree Committee, comprised of Gus Lambropoulos, Elias Fillas, Tonino Sacco, Gus Antonopoulos, Luca Di Ciero, Kirk Karabela and Andrew Latos, were joined by the community for the lighting of a 30-foot Norway Spruce in Athens Square Park.
Around 100 attendees, all of whom were checked for a fever and told to keep social distance, saw the lighting of the festive tree, the tallest to be installed in the neighborhood.
The tree, donated by local businesses and business leaders Gus and Maria Lambropoulos, Sacco & Fillas, The Rock Health and Fitness, NYSpace Finders, Alma Bank and Farenga Funeral Homes was designed to be both a destination for the community as well as a way to bolster local businesses hurt by nearly nine months of the coronavirus pandemic.
The spruce will continue to shine until Jan. 20.
“We are already looking to next year,” said Fillas, of Sacco & Fillas, LLP. “It’s going to be like Rockefeller Center, but in the heart of Queens.”
See photos from the tree lighting ceremony below.
Additional reporting by Dean Moses.
