{"id":64789,"date":"2025-12-08T21:50:21","date_gmt":"2025-12-08T21:50:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/64789\/"},"modified":"2025-12-08T21:50:21","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T21:50:21","slug":"annual-tree-lighting-brings-middle-village-residents-together-for-caroling-and-hot-chocolate-qns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/64789\/","title":{"rendered":"Annual tree lighting brings Middle Village residents together for caroling and hot chocolate \u2013 QNS"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"middle\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Santa Claus and girls scouts of Queens pose for a photo at the Middle Village tree lighting.<\/p>\n

Photo by Patrick Stachniak<\/p>\n

On the cold and blustery evening of Nov. 5, residents gathered at the Community Methodist Church of Middle Village<\/a> for a Christmas tree lighting ceremony, organized by the Cross County Savings Bank, where they listened to carols sung by local girl scout troops, drank hot chocolate and met with Santa Claus, himself. <\/p>\n

Sponsored by the Queens Chamber of Commerce<\/a>, Middle Village Chamber of Commerce<\/a>\u00a0and the Middle Village Residents\u2019 Association<\/a>, the informal ceremony mostly featured community members chatting and children playing amidst the church\u2019s pews, as everyone eagerly waited for their turn to meet Santa.x<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s great to get people out here,\u201d said Al Gentile, organizer and director of Cross County Savings Bank in Middle Village. \u201cIt\u2019s the most important thing during the holidays\u2026 and it\u2019s a better turnout than we expected.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Al Gentile and the team from Cross County Savings Bank at their concessions stand. Photo by Patrick Stachniak<\/p>\n

Gentile started the tree lighting ceremony eight years ago, around the same time the Cross County Savings Bank began its annual Thanksgiving turkey giveaway. Though Middle Village took a break during the COVID-19 pandemic, they began again in 2024 to a modest crowd and Gentile, Middle Village Residents\u2019 Association Pres. Paul Pogozelski and the rest of the organizers were proud that this year\u2019s event drew many more community members and to see the many toys that were donated for Toys for Tots.<\/p>\n

Though the recent cold blast has turned the air frigid, after briefly meeting inside, the group moved outdoors to the eight foot Christmas tree to listen to Christmas carols. Girl Scout troops 4395, 4620, 4734 and 4618 of Trinity-St. Andrew\u2019s Church in Maspeth, Troop 4733 of Our Lady of Hope and Troop 4641 of PS 49 took turns serenading the crowd with the classics such as Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman and more.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Photo by Patrick Stachniak<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Parents bustled around looking for the perfect angle to capture a video and spectators, including Council Member Bob Holden, Council Member-elect Phil Wong and U.S. Rep. Grace Meng, clapped enthusiastically after each performance.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just really happy to be here\u2026 to be able to celebrate holidays with them,\u201d said Meng. \u201cThank you to the church, to Middle Village property owners, and the Middle Village Chamber of Commerce for putting together this event for our community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once the final songs were sung, the concert was interrupted by the sudden arrival of the Grinch, and Santa riding shotgun: two enemies turned friends in a shining example of the true spirit of Christmas. Children and girl scouts crowded the celebrities for photos, and admonished the Grinch in the hopes he would behave this holiday season, though he did leave the event early with a hasty excuse while murmuring something about Whoville.<\/p>\n

\"\"Photo by Patrick Stachniak
\n\"\"Photo by Patrick Stachniak<\/p>\n

The attendees saw the Grinch and retreated inside the Church for cookies and hot chocolate before forming a long line to speak with Santa Claus, who sat at the front of the church. Crifasi Real Estate, owned by Joe and Sal Crifasi, supplied the concessions with Cross Country Savings Bank.<\/p>\n

\"\"Photo by Patrick Stachniak
\n\"\"Photo by Patrick Stachniak<\/p>\n

After kids took their photo with Santa, lead-organizer Cheryle Ann Gangemi, of Crifasi Real Estate and the Middle Village Chamber of Commerce, handed them candy and a goodie bag gifted by Ed Archer of TD Bank. Archer\u2019s first year taking part in the lighting ceremony, he volunteered to help after asking Sal Crifasi how he could get involved with the community during the holidays, and hopes to continue participating in years to come.<\/p>\n

\"\"Ed Archer at the tree lighting ceremony with the gift bags he provided. Photo by Patrick Stachniak<\/p>\n

The crowd dispersed once Santa had taken a photo with everyone in attendance, including Holden, who said he would ask Santa for his health and a longer life. The last of the hot chocolate was polished off and Middle Villagers left to the church to brave the cold once again.<\/p>\n

\"\"Photo by Patrick Stachniak<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Santa Claus and girls scouts of Queens pose for a photo at the Middle Village tree lighting. Photo…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":64790,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[19097,9,24,63,122,124,123,20055],"class_list":["post-64789","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-christmas-tree-lighting","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news","tag-tree-lighting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64789","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=64789"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64789\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}