From the Magazine: A Queens Farewell to Aqueduct

There are numerous facets of life that never become easy, even as you age faster than you would like and become more experienced in them.

One of them is saying goodbye.

As we all grow older, people, places, things we enjoy doing spin in and out of our lives in what seems like a blink of an eye.

And each time, it ignites heartfelt emotions that never grow old.

As a sports fan born and raised in Queens Village, N.Y., as I near my 70th birthday, so much has changed over the years.

Of course, the athletes have. 

But the places where I watched those great stars have also changed. 

The Yankee Stadium I first visited in 1964 is gone, but there's a new one about an Aaron Judge blast away from the old one. My first trip to Shea Stadium was a year later and it too is just a memory. But there's now Citi Field in nearly the same spot. I watched Giants Stadium give way to MetLife Stadium, which is about a football field away from the old site.

Growing up about a couple of furlongs from Belmont Park's south parking lot, I have vague recollections of the old Belmont giving way to the new one and even fresher ones of seeing the ongoing construction of the newer Belmont Park. Even the old Meadowlands Racetrack grandstand was replaced by a new structure on the other side of the oval.

All of which is why saying goodbye to Aqueduct Racetrack generates much different emotions than the other changes.

On June 28, the final day of racing will be conducted at the Big A and when Belmont Park reopens Sept. 18 it will become the lone downstate track in the Empire State.

At some point in time, the State of New York, which owns the property, will decide on a new use for the grounds and Aqueduct will fade into history after first opening its doors in 1894.

Much like Jamaica Race Course, which was replaced by Aqueduct, or Brighton Beach or even the Polo Grounds and Ebbets Field baseball stadiums, there will be little to remind future generations that the site was once home to some of New York's top sports moments.

So, unlike Belmont Park, we will truly be saying goodbye to Aqueduct and there are so many different emotions for me.

Yet even when the steel girders are gone, there will still be memories of the racing for me and millions of other fans.

Subscribe now to read about those memories and perhaps recall some of your own.

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