{"id":342977,"date":"2026-09-10T16:48:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T16:48:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/342977\/"},"modified":"2026-09-10T16:48:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T16:48:12","slug":"nyc-opens-lottery-for-free-camping-under-the-unisphere","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/342977\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC opens lottery for free camping under the Unisphere"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>New York City is bringing camping and outdoor fun to one of Queen\u2019s most iconic landmarks.<\/p>\n<p>The city has opened a lottery giving 200 New Yorkers the chance to spend a free night camping under the Unisphere in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s no better way to cap off an incredible summer than by gathering around the campfire, looking up at the stars and making memories with our neighbors,\u201d Mamdani said in a statement. \u201cThis fall, we\u2019re bringing that experience to the heart of Queens during this special edition of our beloved family camping program.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Camping will take place on Sept. 25 and Oct. 9, with 100 people participating on each night, the city said in a release. Participants will be selected through an online lottery that is open through Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>New Yorkers can register on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nycgovparks.org\/events\/family-camping\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">NYC Parks website<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe evening will begin with icebreaker activities before campers pitch their tents and gather for dinner,\u201d the release said. \u201cThroughout the night, participants will join Urban Park Rangers for a night hike and wildlife viewing, nature games, stories around the campfire, s\u2019mores and other activities.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sleeping bags and tents will be provided, and campers will be able to take the sleeping bags home with them afterward, according to the release.<\/p>\n<p>Campers will be able to buy dinner and breakfast from a food truck, or pack their own provisions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New York City is bringing camping and outdoor fun to one of Queen\u2019s most iconic landmarks. The city&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":342978,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[2296,25,128,576,231,9,24,12,63,122,129,131,130,27],"class_list":["post-342977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-the-bronx","tag-app-human-interest","tag-app-top-stories","tag-bronx","tag-erica-brosnan","tag-human-interest","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-news","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-the-bronx","tag-the-bronx-headlines","tag-the-bronx-news","tag-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342977","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=342977"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342977\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/342978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=342977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=342977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=342977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}