More than 50 friends, relatives and neighbors gathered last night, lighting candles and releasing white balloons to remember little Ariel Russo — the 4-year-old tragically struck and killed by a teen driver fleeing police in Manhattan Tuesday.

“I like her when she smiled. I loved her,” said cousin Emily Russo, 8. “She will be in my heart always.”

Russo’s mother was too grief-stricken to attend the ceremony.

Franklin Reyes, 17, was charged with manslaughter in the hit-and-run accident that left Russo’s grandmother hospitalized.

A wake is scheduled for 2 p.m. today in Queens.