Top entertainment stories of the year
BY ANGELICA ACEVEDO
Queens woman wins $5,000
a week forever from
Publishers Clearing House
Jamaica woman Crystal
Crawford was the big winner
of the Publishers Clearing
House Sweepstakes Thursday,
but it took a while for the Prize
Patrol to track her down and
deliver the news.
The 47-year-old will be
receiving $5,000 a week “forever”
but when the Publishers
Clearing House team knocked
on her door, her son Jaquawn
was the only one home.
He said he knew his mom
had entered the sweepstakes
for years but didn’t think it
was actually real. Jaquawn
led the team a few blocks
away to where his mother was
working, at E. Sholom Inc.
– Early Intervention Child
Care, and her reaction was
priceless.
Crawford was on the phone
and began shrieking when she
realized what was happening.
“Oh my god, are you serious?”
Crawford asked with tears
streaming down her cheeks.
The Prize Patrol explained
she had won for “two forevers”
and after her son Jaquawn
snuck through the crowd for a
warm embrace, the team from
Publishers Clearing House
gave her a check for $50,000
that she could “take straight to
the bank” as a starter.
Local ‘Game of Thrones’
fan finds hidden Iron
Throne at Fort Totten
Queens’ queen Melanie
Joaquin took her rightful place
on the Iron Throne at Fort Totten
Park’s Torpedo Battery in
March.
HBO placed six thrones
around the world as part of the
Quest for the Throne contest to
promote the eighth and final
season of “Game of Thrones.”
On Thursday, March 28, the 22-
year-old found the last of the
six thrones tucked away in the
historic Bayside park.
According to a written
report, the Queens resident
immediately knew where the
throne was once she saw a hint
posted on the show’s Twitter
account. “I knew exactly where
it was because every year the
park has a haunted house and
it’s in that battery,” Joaquin
the Daily News.
“Quest For The Throne honors
the distances traveled by
characters in the show, and as
the host of the world premiere,
we felt it was only fitting to end
this epic quest in New York,”
said HBO in a statement. “Fort
Totten Torpedo Battery in
Queens was selected because
of its dark and ominous setting,
reminiscent of the basement
of King’s Landing, where
the Mad King stored his destructive
wildfire, and where
Queen Cersei waged to destroy
the Great Sept of Baelor.”
Dozens of Queens venues
open their doors to the
public for OHNY Weekend
More than 300 NYC venues
— everything from historic
houses to state-of-the-art apartment
buildings to bustling
businesses — opened their
doors for tours, talks and performances
during Open House
New York Weekend from Friday,
Oct. 18 through Sunday,
Oct. 20.
All five boroughs were involved
in this massive effort,
TIMESLEDGER | QNS.16 COM | DEC. 27-JAN. 2, 2020
including more than 30 Queens
sites stretching from Astoria
to Bayside and from Rockaway
to Ridgewood.
Now in its 17th year, the annual
OHNY Weekend unlocks
notable Big Apple venues so
the general public can explore
them and meet the people who
design, build and preserve
them. The program’s main
goal is to promote an understanding
of architecture and
urban design.
Some of the Queens venues
that participated in the
weekend event were Steinway
Reformed Church on 41-01 Ditmars
Blvd. in Astoria; Bayside
Historical Society on 208 Totten
Ave. in Bayside; and King
Manor Museum, 150-03 Jamaica
Ave. in Jamaica.
Popular haunted attraction
in Flushing helps Queens
residents get into the
Halloween spirit
There was no shortage
of Halloween fun to have in
Queens this year — and Zombie
Super Scare was one of the
main attractions.
Following the success of
the experience last year, creator,
owner and manager Luke
Tinari decided to bring the
haunted walkthrough back
for a second year. Visitors got
to explore the abandoned store
aisles at Toys ‘R’ Us at 30-02
Whitestone Expy. where zombies,
clowns and spooks linger
around every corner.
Tinari made sure that this
year was bigger and better,
in order to attract double the
amount of visitors from 2018
(5,000).
“For the first year, a competitor
was going to come in
to Toys ‘R’ Us. I saw that the
community absolutely loved it
and we wanted to do it another
year,” said Tinari. “From ages
13 and up, it’s just something
to do, something other than
going to a bar. It’s just a great
activity.”
Hello Panda Festival
arrives at Citi Field
One of the brightest and
ongoing festivals in the city is
sure to keep Queens residents
warm at Citi Field this winter.
The city’s inaugural Hello
Panda Festival touches down
in the “World’s Borough”
from early December through
January 2020. More than 120
massively illuminated and
handcrafted lanterns will be
on display, and guests will get
to enjoy great food provided
by 30 magnificent vendors
at the festival organized by
CPAA North America and The
World’s Fare.
The displays feature more
than 300,000 brightly colored
LED lights and several interactive
elements. Visitors can
explore six different lantern
theme parks, each of which
deliver distinct, immersive experiences.
“Hello Panda’s mission is to
bring the epic scope and scale
of China’s best and brightest
lantern festivals to North
America,” said Winston Wang,
general manager of CPAA
North America. “We want to
transport visitors into a magical
world filled with sights and
sounds they’ve never experienced
or even imagined.”
Reach reporter Angelica
Acevedo by e-mail at aacevedo@
schnepsmedia.com or by phone
at (718) 260–2508.
YEAR IN REVIEW
Smiling fans pose with the Throne of the Crypt that was hidden in Fort Totten. Photo by Dean Moses
/schnepsmedia.com
