Forest Hills Stadium to donate portion of drink proceeds to Queens youth program
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Forest Hills Stadium is launching a new community benefits program where 25 cents from every beer and cocktail sold throughout the 2026 season will go directly to a Queens charity. Eagle file photo by Jamie Poole
By Ryan Schwach
Forest Hills Stadium will donate a portion of all beverage proceeds made this concert season to a Queens youth charity, the stadium announced this week.
Through its new “Making Cents for Queens” program, the stadium will donate 25 cents from every beer and cocktail sold throughout the 2026 season directly to Queens Community House, a local nonprofit that serves around 30,000 children, adults and seniors in the borough.
The new venture comes alongside a shift for the stadium. The 2026 concert season will be the first time in the past several years that the venue will not be going into a summer season while also fighting legal battles with its Queens neighbors over sound emanating from its open-air venue and crowds storming in and pouring out of the residential neighborhood.
Stadium officials estimate that the program could create $3,000 in donations per show, about the cost of weekly food pantry bags for 120 families facing food insecurity.
Forest Hills currently has 30 concerts scheduled this summer through mid-October.
"Forest Hills Stadium has always been more than just a stage; we are deeply woven into
the fabric of this community," said Jason Brandt, general manager of Forest Hills Stadium. "With 'Making Cents for Queens,' we are putting our money where our mouth is. Every ticket scanned and every beverage sold directly translates into meals for seniors and early education for our children. We are proud to show that a thriving stadium means a thriving Queens."
Ben Thomases, the CEO of Queens Community House, said that the money could turn “moments of entertainment into meaningful support for Queens families, older adults, and young people.”
“Every concert now helps strengthen the community beyond the stadium gates,” he said.
Although the stadium is enjoyed by thousands of people from Queens and beyond every summer, it has, for the last several years, been embroiled in conflict with its neighbors, who accused the stadium in lawsuits of failing to manage the sound levels generated by its concerts and for failing to control its crowds.
But following the recent election of new leadership at the Forest Hills Gardens Corporation, the private neighborhood where the stadium resides, the lawsuits have nearly all been settled.
However, the stadium is required to keep to a strict 10:00 p.m. curfew for shows, and must coordinate with locals about sound levels and crowd control.
The venue’s summer season includes shows from the legendary Bob Dylan, Forest Hills High School alum Paul Simon, the return of All Things Go festival, Jon Batiste, Paramore front-woman Hayley Williams, and David Byrne.
