About this event
United FestivALB 2026 is a two-day Albanian cultural festival on Staten Island, held at SIUH Community Park — the same waterfront ballpark used by minor league baseball. It runs Saturday, May 16 and Sunday, May 17, 2026, hosted by United FestivALB in partnership with BV Consulting and Events. This is the festival's debut year, and the lineup brings together established and emerging Albanian artists across two days of music, traditional dance, food, and vendors. Tickets are tiered: single-day passes or a two-day package, available through the venue's official ticket portal.
The Essentials
- Date: Saturday, May 16 and Sunday, May 17, 2026
- Time: May 16, 12:00 PM to midnight; May 17, 12:00 PM to 10:00 PM
- Place: SIUH Community Park, 75 Richmond Terrace, Staten Island, NY 10301
- Cost: Paid admission with tiered pricing — single-day passes and two-day packages. Exact prices change, so check the official ticket page at mlb.tickets.com (the venue's ticketing portal) before you go.
- Weather: Mid-May on Staten Island's north shore usually means 60s during the day, cooler by the water after sunset. Bring a light jacket for the late-night Saturday hours.
Getting There
SIUH Community Park sits on Richmond Terrace right along the Kill Van Kull, a short walk from the St. George Ferry Terminal. If you're driving from Brooklyn or New Jersey, the Verrazzano and Bayonne bridges both feed onto routes that end near the north shore; from there, follow signs toward St. George. On-site parking is available at the venue for a fee — the festival ticket page confirms paid parking but doesn't publish the exact rate, so budget for it and arrive early because the lot fills up fast on event days.
If you don't want to drive, the Staten Island Ferry from Lower Manhattan is the easiest option — it's free, runs frequently, and drops you at St. George Terminal, which is a short walk to the park along Richmond Terrace. From the terminal, you can also pick up local Staten Island buses heading west along the north shore. For exact bus routes and walking directions, check MTA or Google Maps the morning of, since event-day street closures sometimes shift the approach.
The one local gotcha: Richmond Terrace is the main artery along the north shore, and on festival weekends with ferry crowds and ballpark traffic combined, it can crawl. If you're driving, give yourself an extra 20–30 minutes; if you're walking from the ferry, you'll often beat the cars.
What to Expect
This is the festival's first year, so expect the energy of a debut — organizers have built the program around two full days of Albanian music and culture, with established names sharing the stage alongside emerging artists. The official materials describe the program as music and performances, traditional dance, food, and vendors, with a focus on Albanian pride and community connection across the diaspora.
Saturday runs the longest, noon to midnight, which gives the day a real arc: family-friendly afternoon programming, dinner-hour sets, and the headline music stretching into the late night. Sunday is shorter, noon to 10 PM, and tends to be the day families bring kids and grandparents for the daytime performances and traditional dance.
Specific performer names and the hour-by-hour schedule weren't published as of this writing — check unitedfestivalb.com closer to the date for the lineup. If you've been to other North American Albanian festivals, the format will feel familiar: a main stage, vendor rows, food stalls, and plenty of space for the valle (circle dance) to break out whenever the right song plays.
The Food
Here's where we have to be honest: the festival materials confirm food and vendors will be on site, but they don't publish a specific menu or list which Albanian dishes will be served. SIUH Community Park is a working ballpark with its own concession infrastructure, so the baseline offering is likely standard venue fare — burgers, fries, soft drinks, beer — alongside whatever the festival's own food vendors bring in.
At Albanian festivals of this size, you can usually count on at least a few stalls serving traditional items like qebapa (small grilled sausages), byrek, or grilled meats, but we can't promise a full Albanian spread based on what's been published. If traditional food is the reason you're coming, look for the dedicated Albanian vendors once you're inside, and don't assume every booth will have them. Ask the organizer in advance through the festival's social channels if you want to confirm what's on offer.
Staten Island's Albanian Community and Why It Matters
Staten Island has a real, growing Albanian community — families from Kosovo, Albania, Macedonia, and Montenegro, plus second- and third-generation Albanian Americans who grew up here. The borough doesn't get the same attention as the Bronx or Westchester when people talk about Albanian New York, but the community is here, and a festival like United FestivALB is part of how it becomes visible.
This matters for counting. The U.S. Census counts about 224,000 Albanian Americans nationally. The real community is closer to a million. That gap isn't a small rounding error — it's most of us. Albanians get undercounted for the usual reasons: ancestry questions get skipped, people write in "Kosovar" or "Macedonian" and get sorted elsewhere, mixed families don't know which box fits. The Census stays essential, and we need people to fill it out. The National Albanian Registry is the parallel count beside it — a free, two-minute community registration that gives us a number we control.
Gatherings like United FestivALB are where the uncounted community shows up in one place. If you're at the park this May, you're part of that visibility. NAR is a 501(c)(3) (filed, IRS confirmation pending). Registering isn't an ID, isn't citizenship, isn't tied to any government — it's just us counting ourselves. Half-Albanian, third-generation, doesn't speak the language, Çam, Kosovar, Arbëresh — all of it counts.
What to Bring
- Tickets — printed or on your phone, ready to scan at the gate
- Cash and cards — some vendors may be cash-only, ATMs at the venue aren't guaranteed
- Light jacket or layers — the park is on the water and gets cool after sunset, especially Saturday night
- Sunscreen and a hat — the afternoon sun on the open ballpark seats is no joke
- Refillable water bottle — check the venue's bag policy first, since ballparks have rules
- Comfortable shoes — you'll be standing, walking, and dancing
- Small Albanian flag or jersey — if you want to represent your region, this is the day
- Patience for parking — and a backup plan to take the ferry if the lot fills
