Queens Theatre last Friday hosted a special event to launch Queens in Your Pocket, a jam-packed guide to the borough, including insightful articles on local attractions, eye-popping photography, helpful maps, lists of highly recommended restaurants and hotels and colorful advertisements by local businesses.
The lavish, 114-page handbook features photos of Queens scenes and residents on the cover. Inside, the text provides detailed descriptions of about 40 venues — such as museums, theaters, sports and entertainment venues, nature and parks and the hotspots within Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, where the borough’s most famous landmark, The Unisphere, makes its home.
The unique reporting format lets readers know the inside scoop and main features of each venue, as well as its address, website and the other attractions located nearby. Peppered throughout the pages are head shots of Queens residents, accompanied by text describing their reasons for loving the borough. And to add another local touch, Jessica Lau, an intern from Queens College, performed the graphic-design duties.
“We are pleased to support the Queens in Your Pocket guide through a grant by the NYC & Company Foundation,” said NYC & Company Foundation Executive Director Kelly Curtin. “Our foundation, in partnership with NYC & Company, works to increase visitation and awareness of the city’s arts and cultural treasures, including our dozens of members in Queens, through programs such as Culture Spot and Arts on Tour as well as through our website and information centers and other materials. The Queens in Your Pocket guide puts the rich cultural diversity of Queens at their fingertips in a way that is
appealing to both New Yorkers and visitors alike.”
“This Queens in Your Pocket resource can take you to many places and help you to discover all that our great county has to offer in entertainment, culture and epicurean delights,” Borough President Helen M. Marshall stated. “It doesn’t take up a lot of room. You can put it in your pocket, but it can unlock a whole new world for longtime residents and first time visitors alike.”
“Queens is such a wonderful borough with so many diverse activities,” added Forest Hills-based Council Member Karen Koslowitz, who chairs the City Council Economic Development Committee. “It is incredibly helpful and convenient to have this valuable information in one guide.”
Assemblywoman Margaret Markey (D-30th District, Maspeth), who is chair of the Assembly Committee on Tourism, Parks, Arts and Sports Development, added: “Tourism is an important and growing sector of the economy in Queens, providing thousands of jobs and helping to support our many outstanding cultural resources. The wealth of attractions in Queens is amply reflected in this helpful guide that will be a valuable resource for both residents and visitors to our wonderful borough.” “It was a distinct pleasure to work on this guide,” said Queens Economic Development Corporation Executive Director Seth Bornstein. “There are so many fun and enriching things to do in Queens, and it’s great to be able to share them with readers. Plus, there’s an authenticity to our home that tourists love, and borough is booming. Readers of the guide will never run out of fun and enriching things to do around here.”
NYC & Company, Borough President Marshall’s Office, the Queens Tourism Council, QEDC and the Queens Courier collaborated to create the roughly 4”-by-9” guide. To receive a free copy in the mail, send a self-addressed, stamped envelope with $1.90 in postage to QEDC (120-55 Queens Blvd., Ste. 309, Kew Gardens, NY 11424). For more information, send an email to Rob MacKay at rmackay@queensny.org. QIYP is also available at Borough President Marshall’s Office, the Redbird Tourist Information Center at Queens Boulevard and 82nd Avenue, the Discover Queens Visitor Center in the Queens Center Mall and QEDC’s main office.