SUNNYSIDE — The neighborhood's annual Roaring '20s-themed concert to honor a late jazz musician returns Thursday, where attendees can listen to live music while chowing down on free ice cream.
The 17th Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Jazz Concert — named after the famed cornet player who lived in Sunnyside at the end of his life — will take place from 3 to 8 p.m., according to the Sunnyside Shines BID.
The event will be held at Bliss Plaza, located under the 7 train tracks at 46th Street and Queens Boulevard, where period-themed musicians and dancers will perform for free, including a show by Swing Dance Astoria from 4 to 5 p.m.
The dancers will be followed starting at 5:30 by a jazz concert from The Sunnyside Wolverines, a Bix Beiderbecke tribute band that includes local drummer Paul Maringelli, who helped launch the annual music festival nearly two decades ago.
The festivities will also include free ice cream samples from local sweets purveyor Bliss Street Creamery, which created a new flavor in honor of the event called "Bix Licks" (corn ice cream with a honey sriracha drizzle, according to its Facebook page).
The event will end with a processional walk to Beiderbecke's former apartment half a block away on 46th Street, where the musician is believed to have died from pneumonia in 1931 at just 28 years old, according to the New York Times.
The yearly concert is a way for Sunnyside to connect with its history, BID director Jaime-Faye Bean said in a statement.
"It’s a vibrant annual tradition that brings our community together in a spirit of neighborhood pride and fun," she said.
