Forest Hills Merchants Band Together To Install Holiday Lights

FOREST HILLS, QUEENS – A group of Forest Hills business owners is raising funds to install temporary holiday lights on Metropolitan Avenue.

Metro Village of Forest Hills, an association of merchants on Metropolitan Ave., first installed holiday lights in 2021, the year the group was created. It was the first time that the avenue had installed holiday lights in decades, according to the group’s co-founder, Rachel Kellner, with six strands hung up across the lamp posts on the corridor.

“I’m hopeful that we’re going to be able to collect enough funds to have eight strands this year,” Kellner, who also owns Aigner Chocolates, told Patch.

Each strand costs $825, and they are set to be hung immediately before or after Thanksgiving and remain up until approximately Jan. 10, according to Kellner.

The effort is in partnership with the Forest Hills Chamber of Commerce. Along with the merchants, assembly members are also chipping in for the holiday lights this year.

Kellner sent an email to merchants on Wednesday to ask for the funds, and she received donations from several businesses and assembly members in less than an hour.