✨ Business Spotlight: 💉 Renew Me By Christina: Botox and Filler From a Certified Nurse Practitioner, Right in Astoria

🏠 Willets Point Just Opened Its Doors — All 880 of Them

⚽ Queens Gets Its Own World Cup Block Party — And Pelé's Getting a Street

🌱 Your Sunday Plans Just Got Way Better: Farmers Market Season Starts This Weekend

🏃 June Is for Runners: Beat the Summer Heat on Queens Pavement

Wednesday, May 27

7:10 PM — Citi Field (Flushing): Mets vs. Cardinals — Medical Services Appreciation Night. Free custom Mets socks for healthcare workers. → Details

Thursday, May 28

7:00–11:00 PM — Heart of Gold Astoria: 🎬 Astoria Film Festival Opening Night Party. Kick off the weekend in style — film community, free vibes. → Details

Friday, May 29

4:00–9:00 PM — Zukor Theater, Kaufman Astoria Studios: 🎬 Astoria Film Festival: Youth Festival & Student Showcase. Root for the next generation of filmmakers. → Details

Saturday, May 30

12:00 PM–11:30 PM — Bohemian Hall & Beer Garden, 29-19 24th Ave: 🎉 CARNAMOOVE 2026: Out-of-season Brazilian Carnival party — Axé live band, DJs, food, dancing. Wear glitter. → Details

1:00–6:00 PM — Steinway Street (28th Ave to 25th Ave): 🕌 NYC Eid Festival: halal street food, modest fashion, Muslim-owned businesses, live performances. → Details

9:00 AM–9:00 PM — Zukor Theater, Kaufman Astoria Studios: 🎬 Astoria Film Festival: Student Showcase (9–6:30pm) + Main Programming (7–9pm). → Details

Sunday, May 31

1:00–5:00 PM — 31st Ave Open Street at 34th St: 🌱 ASTORIA FARMERS MARKET SEASON OPENER! Fresh produce, seafood, local vendors — your first Sunday market of the season. Returns every 2nd & 4th Sunday through November. → Details

12:00–7:00 PM — Zukor Theater, Kaufman Astoria Studios: 🎬 Astoria Film Festival: Main Festival & Awards Ceremony — live action, animation, and more. → Details

🗓 Coming Up — Mark Your Calendar

June 4 — Spacetime CC: 🌿 Socrates Sculpture Park 40th Anniversary Gala — sunset dinner, dancing, cocktails. Honors artist Chakaia Booker. → Details

June 5–7 — Flushing Meadows Corona Park: 🎵 Governors Ball — ASAP Rocky, Lorde, Stray Kids. Right in your backyard. → Details

June 11–28 — USTA / Louis Armstrong Stadium, Flushing: ⚽ Free World Cup Fan Zone Queens — live match broadcasts, food, cultural showcases, fan experiences. Free admission. → Details

June 14 — Elmhurst Ave, Queens: 🏃 Elmhurst Mile Street Race — Queens Distance Runners brings back the one-mile street race. → Details

You've thought about it. Maybe you've searched it, scrolled through before-and-afters, then closed the tab because the whole thing felt like too much: too clinical, too expensive, too easy to end up looking like a completely different person. Here's what actually happens when you go to Renew Me by Christina. You sit down, you ask your questions, she's honest with you about what you need, and you leave looking like yourself. Just a more rested, more refreshed version.

Christina has been a nurse and nurse practitioner for nearly 20 years. She still works part-time at Memorial Sloan Kettering. That context matters, because when someone who spends shifts delivering serious medical news decides to also build a practice around helping people feel good about how they look, they bring a different kind of standard to it. She ventured out on her own about four years ago, works out of a private room inside a hair salon right here in Astoria, and runs the whole thing herself. Certifications, insurance, and a direct line to her that she genuinely answers. She offers Botox, dermal fillers, and PDO threading, and she's available for questions before and after every single treatment.

The services she's most known for are the three core Botox areas: the 11s between the brows, the forehead, and crow's feet. For filler, most clients come in for marionette lines, smile lines, or lips. She doesn't charge by units, which is the pricing model that tends to make Botox feel unpredictable and expensive. Instead, she uses flat pricing per area and makes it affordable. Compare against a midtown medspa and you'll understand why her client base keeps growing entirely through referrals.

Right now, through the end of next month, lip fillers are running at a summer discount. If that's something you've been sitting on, this is a reasonable window to move on it. She mentioned she's done her homework on local pricing, and by any comparison she's found, she's on the more accessible end of the range.

The practice is growing — and not just in the services you'd expect. Starting next month, she's planning to offer donation-based skin cancer screenings on a recurring basis every few months, with proceeds going to pediatric cancer research. It's the kind of thing that makes complete sense once you understand her background, and it's worth keeping an eye on. Down the road, she's also planning to add laser tattoo removal and IV hydration services. She's building this into something bigger, and given how the referral network is already moving, it seems like the neighborhood is helping her get there.

Reach Christina directly on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/renew_me_by_christina/, on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/renewmebychristina or check out her website to schedule a session at https://renewmebychristina.com/. She's responsive, and she'll tell you honestly whether what you're looking for is something she can help with.

Astoria is lucky to have someone with this level of training and this kind of integrity running a practice in the neighborhood. Go check her out.

After years of delays, lawsuits, and a whole lot of doubt, Willets Point Commons has officially opened — and the first residents are moving in right now. The complex at 126-50 Roosevelt Ave., tucked next to Citi Field, is delivering 880 permanently affordable apartments, ranging from studios to three-bedrooms, to low- and moderate-income Queens families. It's Phase 1 of an eventual 2,500-unit community.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani was there for the opening and didn't hold back: he called it "the largest fully affordable housing development our city has seen in decades." Developed by Related Companies and Sterling Equities in partnership with HPD and NYCHDC, the complex also just broke ground on Building 3 — 220 senior affordable units that will complete the first cluster of this massive redevelopment.

The broader vision for Willets Point is almost city-of-its-own scale: 2,500 permanently affordable homes, a new public school, over 150,000 sq ft of open space, a hotel, and NYCFC's Etihad Park soccer stadium — all rising from what used to be a sea of auto repair shops and vacant lots. For Western Queens, this is kind of a big deal.

👉 Read more: QNS — Willets Point Commons Opens

The FIFA World Cup arrives in the New York-New Jersey metro on June 11 — and Queens isn't just watching from the sidelines. The official NYNJ World Cup 26 Fan Zone Queens will take over Louis Armstrong Stadium and the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center from June 11 through June 28, with free live match broadcasts, cultural showcases, local food vendors, interactive games, and fan experiences celebrating Queens' signature global energy.

But wait — the street names are getting in on it too. The NYC Council recently passed a package of World Cup legislation that includes co-naming a Queens thoroughfare "Pelé Way" through November 1, 2026. There's also a proposed Thierry Henry Way in Manhattan (sorry, Henry). The legislation also sets up a cultural passport program, expands public bathroom access for the crush of tourists, and includes an anti-scam outreach campaign so no one gets fleeced buying fake tickets on the street.

For Astorians, this is your moment. The Fan Zone is free, it's close, and it's designed to showcase exactly the kind of neighborhood diversity that makes this borough the most interesting place on Earth every four years. Games kick off June 11 at MetLife Stadium — and the Queens fan zone will be the ultimate spot to catch the ones you can't get tickets for.

👉 Read more: NYNJ World Cup — Fan Zone Queens Announcement

👉 Read more: NYC Council — World Cup Legislation Package (May 14)

Astoria neighbors: grab your tote bags. The Astoria Farmers Market kicks off its 2026 season this Sunday, May 31, from 1–5 PM at 31st Avenue Open Street at 34th Street. It's the neighborhood's homegrown market, running on the 2nd and 4th Sundays through November 8 — so mark those Sundays on your calendar now.

The market brings fresh produce, fish, and locally made goods right to the Open Street under the el, and it's become one of Astoria's most beloved spring-through-fall rituals. Whether you're stocking up for the week or just wandering for the vibe, it's the best possible way to start a Sunday. Vendors vary each season, so follow the market's Instagram (@astoriafarmersmarket) for updates on who's coming.

If you've never been: this market is small in the best way — intimate, walkable, neighborhood-owned in spirit. It started as a pandemic-era idea tied to the 31st Ave Open Street project and has grown into something the community genuinely relies on. This Sunday is the perfect time to show up and show it some love.

👉 Read more: Astoria Farmers Market — Official Site

Summer is officially here, and Queens has a ful lineup of races to kick it off properly. QNS rounded up the month's best running events — and there's something for every pace. The headliner is the Brooklyn Queens Brewery Express Half Marathon, celebrating its 10th anniversary, which threads through the streets of both boroughs and ends with a custom medal, a limited-edition pint glass, and pizza. (The beer is included. Obviously.)

If a half-marathon feels ambitious, the Elmhurst Mile Street Race on June 14 is a fierce one-mile sprint organized by Queens Distance Runners, while the NYCRUNS Summer Loving 5K & 10K at Flushing Meadows Corona Park on June 21 keeps it accessible with a 6 AM athlete arrival and classic race-day energy. There's also a Corona 10K for those keeping score.

Running through Queens neighborhoods is genuinely one of the best ways to experience the borough — the streets, the smells, the bodegas blurring past. Whether you're a competitive runner or someone whose last race was in gym class, June's lineup is reason enough to lace up. Registration links and details at QNS.

👉 Read more: QNS — June Races in Queens

Astoria Insider is inviting local businesses and organizations to be featured in its growing community newsletter.

The platform highlights local news, events and community stories, providing businesses with an opportunity to reach a highly engaged local audience and showcase what they offer.

From restaurants and shops to services and community groups, all are encouraged to participate and share their story with readers across the Astoria and surrounding areas. Don’t own a business? That’s ok… Know of one that should be featured?

Those interested in being featured can reach out to learn more about available opportunities and upcoming editions. Click the button below to feature your business or send an email to [email protected] with your business details and we’ll reach out!