De La Soul headlined SummerStage on Friday, July 17, at Flushing Meadows Corona Park.
Photo by Ramy Mahmoud
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Queens Borough President Donovan Richards hosted a two-day series of free concerts and activities in celebration of Queens Day on Friday, July 17, and Saturday, July 18, at Flushing Meadows Corona Park, with Grammy-winning hip-hop group De La Soul headlining the first day of the series on Friday.
Friday’s event, which took place in front of the Fountain of the Planets, featured hip-hop producer Pete Rock and comedian, actor and musician Hannibal Buress each performing ahead of De La Soul. The group, which has been nominated for six Grammy Awards since forming in 1988, including winning for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals in 2006 for “Feel Good Inc.” with the Gorillaz, is currently comprised of Kelvin “Posdnuous” Mercer and Vincent “Maseo” Mason.
De La Soul performing. Photo by Ramy Mahmoud
The event was hosted by Queens Borough President Donovan Richards. Photo by Ramy Mahmoud
Photo by Ramy Mahmoud
The July 18 concert was a SummerStage production, held in partnership with Capital One, the City Parks Foundation and NYC Parks.
Photo by Ramy Mahmoud
Photo by Ramy Mahmoud
Photo by Ramy Mahmoud
Photo by Ramy Mahmoud
Photo by Ramy Mahmoud
Photo by Ramy Mahmoud
Photo by Ramy Mahmoud
Photo by Ramy Mahmoud
Photo by Ramy Mahmoud
Photo by Ramy Mahmoud
Photo by Ramy Mahmoud
Saturday’s portion of the Queens Day celebration featured dance performances by the Queens College School of Arts; a skate jam from the Skatepark Project at the Maloof Skate Park, canoeing from NYC Parks’ Urban Rangers in Meadow Lake; rowing lessons from Row New York in Meadow Lake; historical walking tours of the World’s Fair from the Alliance for Flushing Meadows Corona Park; zumba classes from the Alliance for Flushing Meadows Corona Park’s Summer Fitness program; all-ages tennis clinics from the United States Tennis Association at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center; info sessions from the Queens Zoo on animal education and wildlife conservation; info sessions on cancer and chronic disease prevention from NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst; and arts and crafts for kids courtesy of NYC Parks’ Queens Recreation team.
Saturday’s events culminated in a musical performance by Queens-based artist DJ Rekha. Other artists who performed with DJ Rekha included British-Indian singer Jaz Dhami, Indian electronic pop singer Mitika Kanwar and Punjabi-Canadian artist Babbulicious.