FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM DECEMBER 9, 2021 • THE QUEENS COURIER 33
holiday guide
Astoria community celebrates Christmas tree lighting in Athens Square Park
BY ANGÉLICA ACEVEDO
aacevedo@schnepsmedia.
com
@QNS
More than 100 people came
out to celebrate the second
annual Christmas tree lighting
Children from Saint
Demetrios School sing
Christmas songs at the
second annual Christmas
tree lighting in Athens
Square Park in
Astoria on Friday,
Dec. 3, 2021.
LEFT: Gus Lambropouls and Maria Markou
Lambropoulos pose for a photo at the
second annual Athens Square Park
Christmas tree lighting in Astoria.
The couple are the founders of the
ceremony that began in 2020.
RIGHT: Maria Markou
Lambropoulos, center,
addresses a crowd of over 100
people at the second annual
Christmas tree lighting in
Athens Square Park in
Astoria.
at Athens Square Park in
Astoria on Friday, Dec. 3.
Community members gathered
around the 35-foot tree
from Pennsylvania, which was
positioned directly behind the
statue of Athena at the park,
located between 30th Street
and 30th Avenue, and will be
on display throughout the holiday
season.
Th e event kicked off with
a prayer and speeches by
members of the tree lighting
committee, including Gus
Lambropoulos and Elias Fillas.
Fillas, the committee chair,
explained they had the idea
of a tree lighting last year,
describing it as “really devastating”
due to the COVID-19
pandemic.
“We got together, a bunch of
business leaders in the community
and we started brainstorming
ideas of what we
could do to uplift the community
a little bit, and we thought
that this symbol … was a great
way to uplift the community
and to bring some cheer and
joy to everybody in a year that
was really very devastating,”
Fillas said.
Before the tree was lit, students
of Saint Demetrios
Preparatory School performed
a variety of Christmas songs.
To end the night’s events,
Santa Claus was invited to
come out to greet children.
Maria Markou
Lambropoulos, wife of Gus
Lambropoulos, said there isn’t
a better place to do something
nice for Queens than Athens
Park.
“We had a very diffi cult
year,” Markou Lambropoulos
said. “We lost people, we lost
businesses … but we were
tough because we are New
Yorkers.”
More than two dozen
local business owners
and community
members raised
over $30,000 for
the purchase,
maintenance and
decoration of the
tree, according to
Give Me Astoria.
Additional reporting
by Paul Frangipane.
Photos by Paul Frangipane
Local Astoria community members and businesses held the second annual Christmas
tree lighting in Athens Square Park.
Santa Claus greets children at the tree lighting in Athens Square Park in
Astoria.
ABOVE: Performers sing and dance to Christmas songs
in front of a freshly lit 35-foot Christmas tree in Athens
Square Park in Astoria.
Performers sing and dance to Christmas songs in front of a freshly lit
35-foot Christmas tree in Athens Square Park.
/WWW.QNS.COM
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