Looking ahead to 2026, QNS is revisiting top stories from 2025.
Below are the top stories in Arts and Entertainment, from an annual four-day festival tradition celebrating Italian heritage in Ridgewood, Billboard recognizing the Forest Hills Stadium for its historical significance in the music industry, to a brand new, state-of-the-art film and television studio bringing the best of the film industry into the heart of Queens.
Fresh Pond Road Street Festival kicks off in Ridgewood
Fresh Pond Street Festival returned to Ridgewood Sept. 4-7 after a contentious CommunityBoard 5 meeting in February threatened its continuance. The four-day festival, which has been a community staple for nearly 30 years, was hosted between Woodbine Street and Menahan Street and featured carnival-style rides, games, vendors and food stalls.
Concerns about the festival arose when its days-long duration sparked mixed reactions from local residents, resulting in a tense exchange during the meeting. Supporters emphasized the festival’s cultural significance and economic benefits for local businesses, meanwhile critics pointed out safety and logistical issues that had been associated with the festival in previous years.
Last year, the debate was reignited once again as locals who live near streets the festival is hosted on claimed vendors and guests left a mess in their neighborhood after the festival was over. Leaders from Federazione Italo-Americana Di Brooklyn and Queens, which hosts the festival, previously claimed opposition stemmed from cultural bias against Italians.
Nonetheless, the festival persisted for another year, bringing together thousands of community members to celebrate Italian music, food, entertainment and culture.
Billboard names Forest Hills Stadium one of the top music venues on the East Coast
Queens’ Forest Hills Stadium was named the best amphitheater on the East Coast in a new ranking of the best music venues for 2025 by renowned music and entertainment publication Billboard. The stadium has stood in the community since 1923.
Since opening as part of the West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills, the 14,000-capacity stadium has become an iconic entity of its own, especially through its Tudor-style architecture. While it was originally built as a tennis stadium, it began hosting concerts in the 1960s.
Forest Hills has hosted numerous musical legends, including Bob Dylan, Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand and the Beatles, who performed their very first stadium concert at the stadium in August 1964.
The stadium eventually fell into disuse in the 1990s, but eventually reopened as a concert venue in 2013, hosting even more iconic musicians and performers such as Mumford and Sons, Ed Sheeran and Hozier with the help of promoter Mike Luba.
Luba said the recognition from Billboard helps validate the stadium’s mission “to bring love and joy to Queens and NYC.”
Looking back at Middle Village’s Niederstein’s restaurant
Niederstein’s Restaurant in Middle Village was a sprawling hub for the community before it was demolished in 2005. The restaurant, which had served German cuisine since it was operating under a different name during the Civil War, underwent several changes in names, owners and even its location.
Henry Schumacher, a Manhattan-based saloon keeper who purchased farmland along the Jamaica-Williamsburg Turnpike, now present-day Metropolitan Avenue, had the restaurant constructed in September 1863, relocating his family to Middle Village before opening the restaurant as “Schumacher’s Lager Beer Saloon and Hotel.”
After Schumacher died, around 1888, his widow sold the restaurant to John Niederstein, another Manhattan saloon and hotel proprietor, for $28,000, leading to its name change. After Niederstein died in 1906, relatives and descendants of his operated the restaurant until 1969, when the family sold it to Horst Herink and underwent renovations.
The restaurant operated for over 30 years, serving up to 500 patrons at a time, before it was sold to developers. Niederstein’s served its last customers in February 2005 before the location was turned into an Arby’s restaurant and small retail center.
East End Studios film and TV facility officially opens Sunnyside campus
East End Studios, a new film and television studio, hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony at its Sunnyside campus on Oct. 23. The studio, managed by CEO Craig Chapman and Michael Manas, vice president and general manager of operations, will be used to film large-scale projects and accommodate all modern XR/VR workflows.
At 350,000 square feet, with 91,000 square feet accounting for four full-service sound stages, the studio is intended to attract jobs in the film and television industry. Queens Borough President Donovan Richards noted that the facility will create approximately 750 permanent full-time jobs in the borough.
In addition to the stages, the facility also features production, office and mill spaces, as well as 225 below-grade parking spaces and eight enclosed loading bays. There is also a rooftop flex-stage spanning 15,000 square feet and a clear height of 26 feet. Outdoor terraces on the property provide sweeping views of the skylines in Queens, Manhattan and Brooklyn.
“There’s so much energy in Queens right now,” said Melissa Roman Burch, chief operating officer of New York City Economic Development Corporation. “The Sunnyside campus is an important part of really cementing and securing New York City’s status as the premier destination for film and TV production industry around the world.”
