2015 Alliance for Community Media National Hometown Award Winning Program RockStock2014

Congratulations to QPTV Access Producers Joe and Dona Valva for their program RockStock2014. Joe and Dona Valva alongside Wanda Grobelkiewicz, Michael Smith, and Walker Hornung are the winners of the 2015 Alliance for Community Media’s Hometown Media Award in the Community Events: Parades/Festivals Category for Independent Producers. In 2003, Jimmy Dowd and Walker Hornung successfully petitioned to have a skate park and surf beach near Beach 90th Street in Rockaway Beach, Queens, NY. In 2006, they successfully held the first ROCKSTOCK AND BARRELS festival there and continued it yearly until Super Storm Sandy. Hurricane Sandy, one of the deadliest, most destructive, and largest hurricanes on record, devastated much of the Mid-Atlantic coast in October 2012, including Rockaway Beach. To help bring the Rockaway community some sense of hope and togetherness, Jimmy and Walker held the festival again in June 2014, with music, contests, vendors, and fun amid the reconstruction. Joe Valva and his crew, Wanda Grobelkiewicz, Michael Smith, and Dona Valva, decided to air some of the celebration to offer their hope to an extended part of the community, and to thank Jimmy and Walker in some small way.