Three Kings Day celebrated with gift giveaway at Corona Plaza
TIMESLEDGER | QNS.COM | JAN. 14 - JAN. 20, 2022 5
BY JULIA MORO
Various community organizations
came together
to host a gift giveaway celebrating
Three Kings Day on
Thursday, Jan. 6, at Corona
Plaza for the second year in
a row.
Last year, the Three Kings
Day event gave out around
150 gifts. This year, nearly
450 toys, art kits, N-95 masks
and other gifts were handed
out to families from the area.
In addition, Assemblywoman
Catalina Cruz donated about
250 toys to the event to help
families in her district celebrate
the occasion.
“Tres Reyes is a tradition
in Latino communities, and
even during a pandemic, we
have to find opportunities
where we can celebrate traditions
in a loving yet healthy
way,” Cruz said.
Sam Massol, the program
director of the Queens Economic
Development Corporation,
said he hopes this gift
giveaway becomes an annual
event but wants to make sure
that the programs they host
meet the community’s needs.
“If you were to ask any
Latino, this is something
very integrated to our cultural
background,” Massol
said. “We are programming
events like this and we want
to continue these sorts of
events because this is a way
to connect the community
together. It’s about bringing
in the merchants, street
vendors and all the different
aspects of Corona at the
plaza to stimulate the local
economy there.”
Organizations like QEDC,
Queens Museum, the Street
Vendor Project and other organizations
honored the holiday
with this event, while
also hoping to slowly revamp
Corona Plaza.
Massol said that Corona
Plaza has a lot of intersectional
challenges, from
homelessness, rodents to
crime — which the pandemic
has only exacerbated.
But Massol has been working
to combat those issues
and make the plaza a safe,
cultural hub.
“This is about bringing
the community together in
a positive way to effect positive
changes we need to see
in the plaza,” Massol said.
“We have the whole gamut of
urban challenges right now.
But this is something that
the community is very much
interested in changing and
we’re interested in harnessing
all this wonderful energy
that the community has to
make those changes.”
Cruz said that the vision
for Corona Plaza has not yet
been carried out, but thinks
that with more events like
the Three Kings Day celebration,
it could be delivered.
“I’m hopeful that in the
future we’ll see the kind of
leadership in the community
that will really help us carry
through a Corona Plaza that
is for the people, that has cultural
events, fun events, educational
events and see that
to fruition,” Cruz said.
Community members gathered in Corona Plaza to celebrate Three Kings Day on Thursday, Jan. 6.
Photo by Julia Moro
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