NEW YORK—The Queens Village Republican Club celebrated its 150th year on March 2 at the annual Lincoln Dinner, where patriotic Americans received awards and listened to speeches from speakers like former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani.
The Queens Village Republican Club is the oldest continuous Republican club in the United States of America, and has hosted a Lincoln Dinner every year since 1996. The Lincoln Dinner is a tradition in which Republican organizations put on a fundraiser dinner around the time of President Lincoln’s birthday, Feb. 12. The dinner is sometimes called the Reagan Dinner or Lincoln-Reagan Dinner. Democratic party-aligned organizations host a similar event called the Jefferson-Jackson Dinner.
The Queens Village Republican Club has hosted many speakers at its dinner, including Steve Bannon, founder of the Walkaway Campaign Brandon Straka, and this time Giuliani.
The event took place at the newly renovated historic Antun’s of Queens Village. Antun’s has hosted presidents, governors, and mayors since the 1950s. The dinner had a cocktail hour, sit-down dinner, drinks, and dessert, accompanied by speeches, live music, and dancing.
Giuliani rounded out the night of speakers. Every time his name came up during the night, applause thundered.
He criticized the policies of the Democratic mayors of the city.
“Since I left being mayor, the cost of education has doubled per student, and we’ve gone down by about 40 percent [proficiency] in math and English. We can’t read, we can’t add,” Giuliani said.
“You’ve got to hold people accountable,” he said, before accusing the officials of failing children in the lower-income and minority communities with communist policy approaches.
Other honored guests included the Republican challenger for the mayorship of NYC Curtis Sliwa, Sarah Carpenter, who is a pardoned Jan. 6 defendant, the Asian American Republican club, and The Epoch Times CEO Janice Trey.
Award-winning investigative journalist and Fox News contributor Sara Carter was honored as the Investigative Journalist of the Year.
Jayr Carter, no relation to Sara Carter, was awarded the Young American Patriot of the Year award. The 14-year-old boy was applauded by many other speakers for being consistent in his efforts at rallies and dedication to the cause at a young age.
Scott LoBaido, a patriotic artist, said of Jayr, “I’ve been doing this for 35 years. I’ve been carrying that patriotic torch, and a lot of us here, well, are not spring chickens, but we got to pass that torch. And the greatest thing that I’ve experienced throughout my systemic career, just of late, is to see the youth carrying that torch. That’s the only way this country survives.”
Jayr briefly came up to the podium to give a shy thank you, to great applause.
Scott LaBaido, a Staten Island native known for his activist and patriotic artwork, was celebrated as the Conservative Artist of the Year. In true activist spirit, LaBaido took the stage opportunity to talk against the spread of lithium battery storage units across the city, saying that they are a fire hazard.
Maud Maron, an advocate for justice and education reform and challenger of Alvin Bragg for Manhattan district attorney won Republican Woman of the Year for her legal efforts in NYC. She pointed out that it was funny that after being a Democrat for 33 years, she would win Republican woman of the year. She highlighted how she has never felt as included as when she was with Republicans.
Maron told a story that illustrated her point, “When I ran as a Democrat, I would ask anyone passing by—because you have a good bet of catching a Democrat if you ask anyone passing by in Manhattan—I would ask and they just signed my petition. And occasionally, a Republican or independent would say, ‘I can’t sign that, we’re Republican or independent,’ and they were always polite as can be about it, and sometimes we even had a friendly chat. Yesterday, I was out petitioning, and when I was asking people on 86th street in front of the fairway if they were Republican and if they could sign my petition, you would think I'd ask them if they were the devil and had horns, they got very mad at me.”
Joe Verderber, Jr., or “Joe the Box,” is the founder of the America First Warehouse, “the most patriotic venue on the planet.” The flamboyant event space is covered floor to roof in patriotic paraphernalia and Trump campaign signs. Verderber was proclaimed the American Patriot of the Year. He talked about how the warehouse was a response to the problems he sees in America, including the illegal immigrant crisis, reckless spending, and election fraud. Verderber said he decided to build the warehouse after he lost a son to fentanyl.
The Freedom Fighter Award was given to John Gilmore for his activism regarding government accountability concerning health issues and freedom of choice in health care.
The Epoch Times CEO Janice Trey spoke on the New York-based media company’s journey to becoming a giant of free speech, and the company’s dedication to the foundational values of America and tradition.
“We stand for liberty, equality, and justice. We fight for a future where opportunity is available to all, where freedom of speech, freedom of expression, and freedom of press is protected, and where every American’s voice matters,” she said.
