{"id":284622,"date":"2026-07-02T08:50:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T08:50:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/284622\/"},"modified":"2026-07-02T08:50:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T08:50:15","slug":"macdonald-park-mural-unveiling-queens-gazette","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/284622\/","title":{"rendered":"MacDonald Park Mural Unveiling – Queens Gazette"},"content":{"rendered":"

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BY DEBORAH CAMP<\/p>\n

Our mural unveiling celebration ceremony of \u201cForest Hills Planting the Seeds of Tomorrow\u201d this past Saturday, June 20, was so much fun! I and my partner in the project, the steward of MacDonald Park, Stephen Melnick, had a nice turnout of the community locals as well as friends and family that drove in from outside of Queens to show their support. We had over 200 individuals that donated to our mural on our gofundme from Queens, the other four boroughs, other states, and even internationally from England and other countries. We are almost done fundraising and just need a final push to finish it to help cover my upcoming art workshops for children and their families with my first one being this Saturday, June 27 at 1pm in the circular plaza of MacDonald Park where my murals are located.
The Forest Hills Asian Association Youth Leadership Council assisted us with the setup. Northwell Long Island Jewish Forest Hills and Trader Joes (Forest Hills location) donated snacks and refreshments for our event. We had two representatives of the three main sponsors in attendance to make public speeches: one from The Frances & Benjamin Benenson Foundation Inc. and one from Ridgewood Savings Bank. DMVStop was not able to make it unfortunately. Representatives of the grant we won from the NYC Green Fund Grassroots Grant Program were not able to make the event in person; however, we want them all acknowledged. We also had one of our donors, The Queens Chamber of Commerce, come to set up a table.
We also had generous support from The Forest Hills Chamber of Commerce, Thank Heaven (a Forest Hills children\u2019s clothing shop), Dmitry Ties, and Metro Meats. We had DJ Nett spin some uplifting and energetic tunes including my poem set to music that I created with Suno. John Beltzer of Songs of Love Foundation performed original music and The Garden Players performed original songs tailored to our mural as well as improv acting for our grand finale act! Jorge Picado Molina documented our event for us with his camera. We had a balloon-maker; balloons were all around to decorate the park including two dedication birthday balloons to honor my late great grandfather Aronne Tamburini (the founding artist in my family\u2013he lived to 104 and I watched him paint when I was little) and Stephen\u2019s late mom Ann Melnick, a lifelong educator. My mural is about celebrating the arts and education. Both of their birthdays were June 20th so they radiated their light of happiness upon us on Saturday for the joy we brought to our Forest Hills community.<\/p>\n

Captions:<\/p>\n

2960 I and my partner in the project, the steward of MacDonald Park, Stephen Melnick.<\/p>\n

2972 and 3021 There was a nice turnout of the community locals as well as friends and family that drove in from outside of Queens to show their support.<\/p>\n

3073 Unveiling of \u201cForest Hills Planting the Seeds of Tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n

3111 Forest Hills.<\/p>\n

3149, 3151, 3153 Panels of the mural in MacDonald Park.<\/p>\n

3164 With Stephen Melnick.<\/p>\n

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