Thursday\u2019s kick off watch party was part of an initiative led by the city Department of Transportation, where open plaza streets become front row seats to ten World Cup matches.<\/p>\n
On the outskirts of the World Cup fan fest was a section designated for kids where they could practice their footwork with an instructor.<\/p>\n
Event-goers could take a break from the sun at a cooling station on 78th Street, where sprinklers, misters, and shade were provided by the 34th Avenue Open Streets Coalition, a Jackson Heights organization that facilitates free cultural and recreational programming year-round.<\/p>\n
Jim Burke, the co-founder of the 34 Avenue Coalition, said seeing kids come out of school and enjoy the soccer fun was great to experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll the kids started running through the misters and they were having so much fun,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t think they knew the game was on. Imagine going to school and you are just walking home and all of a sudden it\u2019s like all these wonderful things are happening that they could do.\u201d Beatriz Gil, a Jackson Heights mother who was born in Mexico City, joined the World Cup watch party with her two children. She said she wanted to share their heritage and a passion for soccer with them. \u201cI want them to participate and get to know their roots and passion for football,\u201d said Gil. \u201cand to share this experience with neighbors in the neighborhood.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although, amidst the fun, Thursday\u2019s plaza watch party event and World Cup festivities in Queens\u2019 immigrant heavy communities come with the backdrop of a recent uptick in immigration enforcement.<\/p>\n
According to an investigation by The City Reporter, 93 percent of ICE street arrests in the New York area targeted Latinos, with Corona having the highest number of arrests in New York City.<\/p>\n
For Gil, the event at Paseo Park allowed the community to have a cultural celebration in spite of any federal presence in Queens neighborhoods.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very important to remember our roots and create spaces where all of us can co-exist without worrying about where we come from, without worrying if we have legal status or not,\u201d she said. \u201cIn reality, the whole world creates and builds this city everyday.\u201d<\/p>\n
Though Burke appreciated that the city planned and funded the watch party, he worried that the heavy police presence may have made some residents \u201cuncomfortable\u201d to join the festivities, especially given immigration enforcement in Queens.<\/p>\n
\u201cI kind of think there would have been more in any other year, but the current climate probably kept some people at home, and that made me a little sad,\u201d said Burke, who requested for less police presence at Thursday\u2019s event. \u201cBut I was glad for the people that came out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thursday\u2019s kick off event was one of many events going on in the World\u2019s Borough for the World Cup.<\/p>\n
Watch parties and fan fest events are taking place throughout Queens during the duration of the tournament. On top of smaller events being held on city streets and venues across the borough, larger watch parties are being held at The New York Hall of Science, MoMa PS1, the Queens Botanical Garden, Queens Borough Hall and the Pilot House Bar & Grill in the Rockaways. The city\u2019s flagship watch party and fan event is being held at the Billie Jean King Tennis Center.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo matter which country\u2019s jersey you wear or what side of the Lionel Messi vs. Cristiano Ronaldo debate you take, you deserve a place to cheer on your favorite team right in your community without having to open your wallet,\u201d Queens Borough President Donovan Richards said last week. \u201cMaking The World\u2019s Game accessible for all in The World\u2019s Borough, regardless of ZIP code or socioeconomic status, is our top priority this tournament, and I\u2019m excited to be working with some tremendous community partners to do just that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mexico won the match over South Africa, 2-0.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Thursday\u2019s kick off watch party was part of an initiative led by the city Department of Transportation, where…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":268917,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":["post-268916","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268916","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=268916"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268916\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268917"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}