Around Queens
HELLO PANDA FESTIVAL
Revel in amazing lights, global food and colorful art during the Hello
Panda Festival at Citi Field
www.qns.com I LIC COURIER I NOVEMBER 2019 49
BY JENNA BAGCAL
Head to Citi Field this winter,
where bright lanterns, interna-tional
cuisine and cultural arts
will collide.
From Dec. 6 to Jan. 26,
2020, the Flushing stadium plays host
to the first-ever Hello Panda Festival,
produced by CPAA North America.
Spanning 750,000 square feet, the
landmark event will feature over 120
handcrafted lanterns, global food ven-dors
curated by The World’s Fare and
arts experiences including live perfor-mances,
modern art exhibits, a holiday
market and traditional crafts.
“Hello Panda’s mission is to not only
give New Yorkers and visitors some-thing
they’ve never seen before but
also deliver an experience they can’t
find anywhere else,” said Winston Wang,
general manager of CPAA North Amer-ica.
“Our festival will offer a variety of
immersive and social media moments
that introduce guests to the artistry of
lantern-making while bringing different
communities together through food
and culture.”
The festival’s lantern display is sure
to delight with over 300,000 LED lights
and several interactive elements. Some
of the world’s leading lantern artisans
will handcraft and paint over 120 dis-plays
to reflect the tradition, innovation
and creativity of the Chinese art.
Attendees can explore six different
lantern theme parks which deliver dis-tinct,
immersive experiences. The nev-er-
before-seen exhibits will be spread
throughout the parks: Dream World,
Holiday Wonderland, Discovery Zone,
Interactive Music Zoe, Sports World and
Community Interactive Zone. Display
highlights include the world’s tallest
Christmas tree lantern, life-sized dino-saurs
and safari animals, a huge fairytale
castle and a 98-foot-long light tunnel.
Food will also be one of the main
attractions at this year’s Hello Panda
festival through a partnership with The
World’s Fare. Organizers of the larg-est
and most diverse food and drink
event in New York City will lend their
tastemakers to curate vendors in the
tented and heated food pavilion. Food-ies
can choose dishes from 60 diverse
vendors offering a wide selection of
global cuisines.
“The World’s Fare is honored to
partner with Hello Panda to celebrate
culture in the most diverse city in the
world,” said Joshua Schneps, CEO of
The World’s Fare. “There was a natural
synergy between the mission of the
festival and our organization and we
couldn’t be more excited to take this
journey together.”
Hello Panda will feature both tradi-tional
and modern cultural arts through
live performances, galleries and a holi-day
market across six giant heated tent
areas. The festival will showcase nightly
music from local and international acts
from different genres including dance,
Latin, pop and hip-hop.
Visitors can also view a collection of
galleries featuring works of emerging
Hello Panda
global artist and even get in on the fun
with DIY experiences like papercutting,
sugar painting, embroidery, cotton candy
art led by artist instructors.
“Citi Field is a place where people
from all walks of life come together
and share an amazing experience,”
said Heather Collamore, vice presi-dent
of Metropolitan Hospitality at Citi
Field. “The Hello Panda Festival is a
unique event that promotes cultural
exchange while delighting the child
in all of us.”
Hello Panda is open seven days a
week from 5 to 10 p.m., Dec. 6 to Jan.
26, 2020. CPAA also plans to produce
the even in Vernon, New Jersey, from
Oct. 18 to Feb. 2, 2020, and at the
World Vacation Hotel from Oct. 25 to
March 22, 2020.
Tickets are currently on sale and
prices range from $22 to $28 minus
tax and service fees. For more informa-tion,
visit www.hellopandafest.com or
follow @hellopandafest on Instagram
and Twitter and Facebook.
/www.qns.com
/www.hellopandafest.com
/www.qns.com
/www.hellopandafest.com
