Free Tree Lighting At Athens Square Park On Friday

ASTORIA, QUEENS — Astorians don't have to cross the East River to see a Christmas tree lighting ceremony this holiday season.

On the evening of Friday, Dec. 3rd, at 6:00 p.m., a 30-foot-tall spruce will be lit up in Athens Square Park, followed by Christmas carol singers and a surprise celebrity guest.

The second annual ceremony is organized by a group of Astoria business owners and a local non-profit, who set up a tree in the park for the first time last year as a way of bringing joy to the pandemic-affected holiday season.

Gus Lambropoulos, a local entrepreneur of Greek heritage and event organizer, told the Astoria Post that this year's event is already shaping up to be "even bigger;" people aren't required to socially distance like last year, and the organizers splurged on a slightly taller Norway spruce — the same kind of coniferous tree as in Rockefeller Plaza.

"We want it to become a destination for the world to come and see," Lambropoulos said. He also told Give Me Astoria — another one of the event sponsors — that the tree has been featured in publications across 55 different countries, and been seen by 5.4 million people on social media.

In Oct., Lambropoulos and a host of other event sponsors — including the families behind Sacco and Fillas' law firm, Luca DiCiero of the real estate firm NYSpace Finders, and Athens Square Inc., a non-profit that hosts events at the park — contributed money, and fundraised, towards a goal of $30,000.

The money that the group praised will cover the cost of the tree lighting ceremony and keep the tree lit with bright white lights through Jan. 8th.