Enjoy this last day of Virgo energy and get ready to ease fully (if you haven’t already) into that Pumpkin Spice goth Libra dichotomy. The leaves are starting to turn colors and there are fewer (but deadlier) mosquitoes in the air. What shall we do while we swat them away?
We hope you’ve cleared your whole calendar for DC Art All Night on Friday! The festival, patterned after Nuit Blanche all-nighters in Europe and Canada, is a celebration of local arts and fun. Our local version starts at 4 p.m., with venues from Eastern Market down to Barracks Row Main Street. Here are a few highlights:
- Eastern Market Metro Park, 4-6 p.m: It’ll be like Live, on the Hill, but bigger! Expect music, artists doing live art and more!
- Eastern Market’s Night Market, 4-8 p.m: Visit your favorite vendors and shop! There will also be Country dancing (!!) and live art demos. Starting at 7 p.m., come get ready to yee-haw and boot-scoot, as the DC Rawhides take over the North Hall!
- Pop-up Galleries: Starting at 4 p.m., make sure you visit Groovy DC and Silk Road, Coldwell Banker Realty (and say hi!), PGN Architects, Kashmir Boutique, Fight Club, 700 Penn, As You Are, Sole Wash, Crazy Aunt Helen’s and more. All these wonderful businesses will have varied art — from photography to moving watercolors to floral sculptures, it’ll be a feast for the senses.
- Live DJ and Cupcakes: From our friends at My Cake Theory, get down from 6-8 p.m.
- Silent Disco: the 700 block of C Street SE transforms into an event that’s half Boogie Wonderland and half pantomime. You don headphones and dance to the rhythm of the music and only you and those who signed up in advance get to hear it! Get there early and sign up, Dancing Monarchs!
- Live music at Mr. Henry’s: Come to the home of jazz on the Hill from 8-11 p.m. It’s guaranteed to be a great show! (No cover, $15 min food/drink per patron, doors 6 p.m.)
- Mural Artists at Emblem Park: Did you know there is a park called Emblem Park? This is a new one for us, but it’s on 8th Street SE, just south of the 695 underpass. There will be muralists and projections here from 5-9 p.m.
- Wine tasting and art: From 5-8 p.m., go to DCanter on Barracks Row and try a new favorite while you enjoy the art of local artists!
- Explore! Many businesses are staying up a little later for you. Why not make dinner reservations at one of our wonderful eateries and take an extra long stroll down our Main Streets? Make sure you walk to the Hill Center and to CHAW, where there is plenty of beautiful artwork!
- If you don’t want to party in this neighborhood (because, you know, we get it– it’s cool to leave the Hill sometimes), there are TWENTY-ONE other neighborhoods joining in the fun with art, demos and more. Click here to make your plan.
For my Type-A planners, here is a map of all the stops, courtesy of Eastern Market Main Street. You are welcome!
Want to do something family-friendly and very tubular and radical? Back to the Yards, an 80s themed dance party is happening on September 23 from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. More info and RSVP here.
The Northeast Library is having the first of two fall Garden Concerts this Sunday, September 25 — the other one will be October 16. On 9/25 it’s Whiskey Before Breakfast, a traditional Irish folk music band. On 10/16, it’s Karen Collins and the Backroad Band. Concerts start at 2 p.m. in the courtyard. In case of rain, they’ll take place in the meeting room located in the basement. More info? Click here.
A new interactive experience is coming to Rhode Island Center, the space right off Rhode Island Avenue Metro, where the Van Gogh exhibit was earlier this year. The experience is called DINOS ALIVE and it looks like it’s gonna be a great hit for the younger set (and their tired, devoted parents). Dinos Alive is coming in October, but you can get tickets here.
Oktoberfest may start in September, but the fun and the beer are already frothing and fizzing.Wundergarten, has a beer garden, parties, German food on multiple dates. For more details and to RSVP, click here.
Café Berlin on Massachusetts Avenue also has a special Oktoberfest menu (and special adorable costumes for the staff). They will also have Spanferkel, special Pig Roasts on September 24 and October 8. For more information, menus and to make reservations, click here.
Biergarten Haus is like stepping into Oktoberfest year-round. Plan on stopping by sometime this week and raise a stein or two. For more info click here. Prost!
The Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian is having something very special on Saturday, September 24. Ñomongeta (Conversation) is an opera that blends traditional and indigenous music and Spanish and Guaraní languages staged as a conversation between a Guaraní man and Christopher Columbus. More info and details here.
Did you know the U. S. Capitol holds Capitol Conversations on weekdays at 1 p.m.? These virtual sessions are informative and fun–– a neat opportunity to learn something new while you eat your lunch. Register for Capitol Conversations here.
On Wednesday evenings, make it trivia! Two Girls Trivia runs a quiz at Fight Club starting at 7 p.m. You can also catch them at Biergarten Haus on Tuesday evenings. For more information and quiz hints, check out their Twitter, @twogirlstrivia.
Every Thursday, Kelly’s Irish Times has comedy! The Batting Cage Comedy show starts at 8 p.m. and is free. More info here.
Hey, have you gotten your COVID booster and your flu shot? No? Well, cross that off your list this weekend! Click here to find where you can get it.
Happy Rosh Hashanah to our Jewish and Jew-ish readers! We hear that Call Your Mother might still be taking your orders for this weekend (DEADLINE IS TODAY). Shanah tovah and challah for all!
OFF-HILL
We already told you about Art All Night happening across all of DC, but it bears repeating. Click here for different sites.
National Landing BID is busy creating community and a new identity through great events and you love to see it. They have a Sunday series called National Landing Unplugged, from 12:30 to 2 p.m. Check it out here.
PLAN AHEAD
CALLING ALL GARDENERS! The Friends of the National Arboretum are having a Fall Festival and MEGA bulb sale on October 1, starting at 10 a.m. and if you want to introduce cool new spring bloomers to your garden, this is a can’t-miss event. More info here. RSVP is encouraged but not necessary to attend.
Taste of the Harvest is happening on October 8 from 4-8 p.m. and you’re invited! This event, organized by the 11th Street Bridge Park and THEARC, is a chance to reconnect with friends and neighbors while you enjoy performances, chef demos and a bountiful harvest from local farmers. The event is free but they ask that you RSVP. To do so and to learn more about the event, click here.
The St. Mark’s Players are back and their new production, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike by Christopher Durang will run from October 7 through 22. For more information and tickets click here.
A new interactive experience is coming to Rhode Island Center, the space right off Rhode Island Avenue Metro, where the Van Gogh exhibit was earlier this year. The experience is called DINOS ALIVE and it looks like it’s gonna be a great hit for the younger set (and their tired, devoted parents). Dinos Alive is coming in October, but you can get tickets here.
Get tickets to The Till Trilogy at Mosaic Theater Company. This collection of three works focuses on the 1955 murder of Emmet Till, a 14-year old child who was tortured and killed for allegedly offending a white woman. For more information and tickets, click here. The Till Trilogy runs October 4- November 20 at the Atlas Performing Arts Center.
Another wonderful film festival coming in late September is the March on Washington Film Festival. If there has ever been a time to reflect, learn and uphold the courage of those seeking for equality and fighting for basic rights, it is now. Learn more about the festival and their mix of in-person and online screenings happening September 28-October 2 here.
If you’ve never tuned in to a chat from the U. S. Botanic Garden, you may want to change that this coming October 8. TikTok/Instagram sensation, @blackforager (a.k.a. Alexis Nikole Nelson) will be demonstrating how to cook with acorns and you’re not going to want to miss it. Alexis is funny, charming, engaging and very knowledgeable about all the delicious eats in your backyard. Register here.
The Congressional Cemetery Soul Strolls are a hot ticket, coming at you October 14, 15, 21 and 22. Learn about the residents of our quietest community and wander the beautiful grounds at night. Tickets are $15-35 and you can get them here, while you still can.
Do you love beer? Do you love events that are just a short stroll downhill from our beloved neighborhood? Then Snallygaster— celebrating 10 years of wonderful beer merriment this year– is surely your jam. This year’s iteration happens October 8 on Pennsylvania Avenue, between 3rd and 6th Streets NW. More tickets and information here. We are told tickets are going fast: last year it was very crowded but also a lot of fun, so get your beer buds together for suds.