Forest Park after hours: a calm guide to an evening around the park

There's a particular hour in the west end of Queens when the day loosens its grip. The sun drops behind the tree line along Park Lane South, the traffic on Woodhaven Boulevard thins, and Forest Park — 538 acres of it — goes soft and green and quiet. If you live near Woodhaven, Richmond Hill or Kew Gardens, this is the park's best window, and most people breeze past it on the way home. This is a guide to slowing down and actually using it.

It's also an honest guide, which means one thing up front: this is about the neighborhood and the evening, not about lighting up on a park bench. New York doesn't allow cannabis use in parks or public spaces, full stop. So think of the park as the walk and the wind-down, and treat anything from the dispensary as a stop on the way to a private evening at home.

What's actually in Forest Park?

Forest Park was laid out by Frederick Law Olmsted — the same landscape mind behind Central and Prospect Parks — and it shows in the way the paths curve and the forest is left to feel like real forest. The upland woods here make up one of the largest continuous oak stands in Queens, which is why an evening walk on the interior trails feels less like a city park and more like a genuine break from it.

• The Forest Park Carousel — a city-landmarked carousel on the Woodhaven side, with horses hand-carved by Daniel Muller. It runs seasonally, spring through fall, and winds down in the early evening — a nice five-minute stop if you've got kids or just like old machines.
• The George Seuffert Sr. Bandshell — free summer concerts on warm evenings; check the season's schedule before you go.
• Strack Pond — a restored kettle pond on the Woodhaven end, good for a slow loop as the light goes.
• Forest Park Golf Course — a public 18-hole course if a round is more your speed.
• Victory Field — the track and athletic fields near Myrtle and Woodhaven, if you'd rather move than stroll.

When does the park close?

Like the rest of the city's parks, Forest Park is open until roughly 9pm — closing time is dusk, not midnight. That's why "after hours" here is really the last light of the day: come after work, take the loop while the sun is low, and let the evening carry on somewhere else once the park empties out. Golden hour on the interior trails is the whole point.

Where does a dispensary fit into the evening?

If you're winding down the day anyway, a licensed dispensary is an easy add on the way home. Cannabis Cowboy sits on the Richmond Hill side of the park's world, a short trip from the southern edge along Jamaica Avenue. It's a licensed New York adult-use shop (OCM-RETL-24-000068), which is the part that matters: everything on the shelf is lab-tested and state-tracked, unlike the unlicensed storefronts scattered around the borough.

You can [browse the live menu](https://cannabiscowboy.dispensary.shop) ahead of time or in person, and the number on the tag is the number you pay — New York's 13% cannabis tax is already baked into the menu price, so there's no math at the register. Bring a current, government-issued photo ID showing you're 21 or older; you're carded at the door every visit.

A simple after-work loop

1. Come in from the Woodhaven side near the carousel while there's still light.
2. Take the interior trail loop toward Strack Pond — 30–40 unhurried minutes as the sun drops.
3. Head out before the park closes at dusk.
4. Swing by Cannabis Cowboy on the Richmond Hill side if you want to pick something up — sealed, for later.
5. Finish the evening at home. That's the whole plan, and that's the appeal.

For more on the neighborhoods that ring the park, the areas we serve page lays out how Woodhaven, Richmond Hill and Kew Gardens connect — useful if you're figuring out the shortest way from your side of the park to the shop.