QUEENS — Forest Hills residents will celebrate the “festival of lights” under a massive 18-foot menorah Saturday during an event featuring a DJ and other treats, organizers said.
“Chanukah on the Park,” which will take place in Yellowstone Municipal Park on the eighth night of the Jewish holiday, will also include a ventriloquist, a candy truck, traditional jelly donuts and raffles.
Rabbi Mendy Hecht of The Chabad of Forest Hills North, which is co-organizing the event, said that ever since he was a little boy he wanted to host a large-scale Chanukah celebration.
“Chanukah on the Park" in Melbourne, Australia, where he grew up, is one of the largest in the world, attracting up to 15,000 people each year, he said.
“It was a huge event and that was for me a highlight growing up as a little kid,” Hecht said.
The inaugural event he organized last year in Forest Hills attracted roughly 200 people, he added. This year, he hopes even more residents will participate in the event, which is free and open to the entire community.
“We are here to spread lights and everyone is invited,” he said. “It’s going to be fun for the whole family.”
“Chanukah on the Park" will take place at Yellowstone Municipal Park, on Yellowstone Boulevard, between 68th Avenue and 68th Road, this Saturday from 6:15 to 9 p.m. The menorah will be lit at 6:30 p.m. For more information go here.
