18 THE QUEENS COURIER • OCTOBER 15, 2020  FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM 
 Photo by Dean Moses 
 Dozens gather in Middle Village park to  
 celebrate Columbus Day, Italian heritage 
 BY DEAN MOSES 
 editorial@qns.com 
 @QNS 
 Th  e Friends of Columbus hosted  
 a Columbus Day celebration  
 at Juniper Valley Park in Middle  
 Village on Saturday, Oct. 10. 
 Th  e event kicked off  the celebrations  
 for both Columbus Day  
 and Italian-American Heritage  
 month, which is celebrated  
 in October. 
 Politicians  from  
 around the borough, 
   most  of  
 whom  are  
 cons e r vatives, 
  came  
 out to give  
 r ema rks  
 during the event, including Councilman  
 Robert  Holden,  state  Senator  Joseph  
 Addabbo, former state Senator Serphin  
 R. Maltese and Queens borough president  
 candidate Joann Ariola. 
 Elected offi  cials at the event spoke  
 about  preserving  the  city’s  fi ve  
 Christopher Columbus statues. 
 “We should not judge someone  
 who lived decades ago from today’s  
 standards,” Addabbo said. 
 While the rally was considered  
 a  partisan  celebration,  a  
 large number of attendees  
 donned apparel in  
 support of President  
 Donald  Trump,  
 including  Make  
 America  Great  
 Again  hats,  
 shirts and fl ags. 
 
				
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