Crowds Turn Out For Queensbridge It’s My Park Day

Photo Jason D. Antos Martha Gilpin, representing the Astoria Park Alliance, stands before a mountain of leaves she raked as part of the semiannual It’s My Park Day beautification program at Queensbridge Park sponsored by Green Shores NYC and the Friends of Queensbridge Park Committee. On Saturday November 7, citizens of Long Island City and Astoria joined with Green Shores NYC and the Friends of Queensbridge Park Committee for the semiannual, It’s My Park Day. Students from LaGuardia Community College also came to lend a helping hand.

The event, held in conjunction with the city Department of Parks and Recreation, gave residents a chance to spruce up Queensbridge Park after an event-filled summer. It took volunteers only a few hours to paint benches, plant bushes and perform general park cleanup, which included raking an abundance of fallen leaves.

Longtime Queensbridge resident Elizabeth McQueen, the driving force behind the beautification program, expressed her happiness with the day’s progress. “This is wonderful,” McQueen said. “It’s really a blessing to see that so many people care about their community and how it looks.”

People of all ages were invited to join the clean up and were treated to refreshments, along with an arts and crafts show at the end of the day.

Queensbridge Park, located on Vernon Boulevard and 41st Street, features baseball fields and a multi-use field for soccer, football, volleyball and handball. There is also a playground and a barbecue area surrounded by a bike path.

For more information about Green Shores NYC, an all-volunteer parks advocacy organization that works to restore and maintain the Astoria/Long Island City waterfront, visit www.greenshoresnyc.org. The organization also sponsors events to beautify and maintain the parks and shoreline as well as organize recreational activities for the community.

—Jason D. Antos