#PickoftheWeek | Go Tigers! Queens Hosts Lunar New Year Fun Over Next Weeks
BY QEDC It's In Queens
Lunar New Year is approaching, and Queens is getting ready to party like it’s 1999! The world’s most diverse borough will host performances, shopping bargains, art workshops, and even plant sales to welcome the Year of the Tiger. Some events follow.
Flushing BID is offering a free online raffle through Feb. 7. Participants enter Lucky7 for a chance to win more than 300 prizes from the following local businesses — Teso Lift Store; New York Digital City; Ann Story of NY; World Journal Bookstore; Sheraton LaGuardia East Hotel; Taipei Fine Wine & Liquor; Prince Street Fine Wine & Liquor; Eggcellent soufflés pancake; Old Luo Yang; Grandma’s Dim Sum; afternoon snack shop; Chun Yang Tea; Shi Miao Dao Rice Noodle; Xing Fu Tang Bubble Tea; Young’s Dessert Bar; Yin Ji Chang Fen Flushing; and Flushing Ice Cream Factory.
Winners will be selected randomly by computer and announced on the BID’s website and social media posts on Feb. 12. Then they’ll be contacted by email.
In the same neighborhood, Queens Botanical Garden (43-50 Main St.) will host a Lucky Plant Sale from Jan. 22 to Feb. 13. Flowers bring luck, according to Chinese folklore, and everything from jade plants to peace lilies will be on offer.
The Flushing nonprofit will also sponsor the Year of the Tiger Community Art Project from Jan. 23 to Feb. 12. All are invited to create a tiger stripe pattern panel or decorate a tiger face that will hang at the QBG Visitor & Administration Building for the month of February.
After a two-year, Covid-forced break, The Shops at Skyview will present lion dances, cherry blossom crafts, red envelop gifting, and other Lunar New Year festivities on Jan. 29 from 1 to 4 pm. The mall, which is located at 40-24 College Point Blvd. in Flushing, will also participate in the parade on Feb. 5.
On the other side of the 7 train’s Queens run, the LIC Partnership will hold its first ever LIC Lunar New Year Celebration from Jan. 24 to Feb. 6. More than 60 businesses, nonprofits, and cultural institutions will present fun events, promotions, and performances.
As part of the fun, the Lunar New Year Lion Dance will unfold along Jackson Avenue from Queens Plaza to Court Square Park on Jan. 29 between 1 and 3 pm.
A bit north, Socrates Sculpture Park will lead a family-oriented celebration on Jan. 29 from 12:30 pm to 4 pm.
Participants will be able to learn about the lunar cycle through a self-guided scavenger hunt and hanging out by a communal fire, where they’ll drink hot tea using herbs that grow in the Socrates garden. They’ll also make tea blends to take home at a dry herb bar. Plus, Harumi Ori from The Noguchi Museum will lead three light sculpture workshops geared towards families with children five to 11 years old. These 45-minute sessions will start at 12:30 pm, 1:30 pm, and 2:30 pm and pre-registration is required.
Finally, Flushing Town Hall will display a Lunar New Year Exhibition – Reconcile: Begin Anew from Feb. 1 to Feb. 16.
Curated by Chemin Hsiao and Stephanie S. Lee, this show presents art by eight Asian American immigrant artists who live and work in New York. Patrons can expect to marvel at everything from watercolors to textiles to Korean Minhwa paintings.
The opening reception for Reconcile: Begin Anew is on Feb. 5 from 3 pm to 5 pm with an artist walk-through at 4 pm.
Images: Queens Botanical Garden