Washington, D.C
Things to Do in the DC Area This August
Contents
- 10 Best Things to Do in DC
- Want More Things to Do?
Happy August, DC!
Summer break is closing out with a bang this month. August adventurers can celebrate 20 years of DC Jazz Fest, see actress Rachel Bloom live, and rap along with Future and Metro Boomin at Capital One Arena.
10 Best Things to Do in DC
by Pat Padua
Books
Evan Friss
August 14
location_on Politics and Prose (Connecticut Avenue)
Friss’s new book, The Bookshop: A History of the American Bookstore, surveys the tangled saga of our country’s book business, from Benjamin Franklin’s Philadelphia emporium to fabled volume slingers like the Strand and the Gotham Book Mart.
Comedy
Rachel Bloom: Death, Let Me Do My Show
August 11
location_on Lincoln Theatre
Bloom’s musical collaborator Adam Schlesinger died of Covid in the early days of the pandemic; around the same time, her daughter was born. In this new one-woman show, the creator and star of TV’s Crazy Ex-Girlfriend explores what that profoundly disorienting period was like.
Theater
Soft Power
August 6–September 15
location_on Signature Theatre
What if Hillary Clinton fell in love with a Chinese theater producer and the couple debated their beliefs about American democracy through song and dance? That’s what Tony winners David Henry Hwang (M. Butterfly) and Jeanine Tesori (Kimberly Akimbo) have conceived in this wild political satire.
Music
Future and Metro Boomin
August 17
location_on Capital One Arena
Atlanta rapper Future and producer Metro Boomin bring their brooding beats and rhymes to town to support two recent collaborative albums, We Don’t Trust You and We Still Don’t Trust You.
Theater
Nine
August 2–11
location_on Kennedy Center
Tony winner Andy Blankenbuehler directed and choreographed this revival of the hit musical adapted from Federico Fellini’s movie fable about the creative process, 8½. Steven Pasquale stars as Guido, a seasoned film director facing writer’s block and the wrath of past lovers.
Museums
“Voting By Mail: Civil War to COVID-19”
August 24, 2024–February 23, 2025
location_on National Postal Museum
The coronavirus pandemic required voters to follow what seemed like unheard-of absentee protocols, but democracy by postal service was not unprecedented. This exhibit includes such historical artifacts as a tally sheet mailed to record the votes of Ohio soldiers in 1864, an Alabama soldier’s request for an absentee ballot during World War II, and an instruction sheet from the 2020 election.
Books
Dinaw Mengestu
August 6
location_on Politics and Prose (Connecticut Avenue)
The journalist and author left war-torn Ethiopia as a child, and since his 2007 debut novel, The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears, he has regularly written about Washington’s thriving community of immigrants from his home country. In his fourth novel, Someone Like Us, Mengestu tells the story of a journalist who investigates his own father’s death.
Music
Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra
August 4
location_on Kennedy Center
Orchestra founder Keri-Lynn Wilson conducts Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony–in Ukrainian. The program, performed by musicians who are either based in Ukraine or exiled from their homeland, opens with “Freedom,” a piece by Ukrainian artist Victoria Poleva composed in response to the invasion.
Music
DC JazzFest
August 31–September 1
This year’s iteration of the 20-year-old staple includes fresh talent such as singer Samara Joy, as well as veterans like David Murray, whose saxophone has shouted through gospel and the avant-garde for nearly 50 years, and Baltimore-born guitar great Bill Frisell.
Opera
Silent Night
August 9, 11, 15, and 17
Christmas in August? This Pulitzer-winning work by composer Kevin Puts and librettist Mark Campbell is based on the 2005 film Joyeux Noël, which dramatizes a Christmas truce during World War I. The opera’s multilingual book–sung in English, German, French, Italian, and Latin–offers a message of world peace that’s welcome every day of the year.W
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Want More Things to Do?
by Briana Thomas
Arts and culture:
- To commemorate the centennial of James Baldwin, Strathmore is screening James Baldwin: The Price of the Ticket at AFI Silver Theatre (August 2, $10, Silver Spring).
- Artscape marks 40 years of showing off Charm City’s creativity (August 2-4, free, Baltimore).
- Swap books by local authors at MahoganyBooks’ Black Books Matter Fest in honor of James Baldwin’s 100th birthday (August 3, free, National Harbor).
- YouTuber Brian Tyler Cohen visits Sixth & I with his debut book, Shameless: Republicans’ Deliberate Dysfunction and the Battle to Preserve Democracy (August 14, $20+ for in-person, $12+ for virtual, Downtown).
- Artist Tuan Andrew Nguyen makes a DC debut with the multimedia installation “The Island” (August 16-May 4, 2025, free, Smithsonian American Art Museum).
- To mark the 25th anniversary of The West Wing, cast members Melissa Fitzgerald and Mary McCormack will discuss the show’s impact at Sixth & I (August 17, $40 for ticket and signed book, $12+ for virtual, Downtown).
- The National Book Festival returns with author talks and signings from award-winning writers like James Patterson and Candace Fleming (August 24, free, Library of Congress).
Community and heritage:
- Fiesta Asia Silver Spring highlights the traditions and cultures of Asia. (August 3, free, Silver Spring)
- DCBX16 brings Latin dance, fitness, food, and live music to the city (August 22-26, $50+, Downtown).
- Don your best 16th-century attire and stroll Revel Grove’s 27-acre village at the Maryland Renaissance Festival (August 24 through October 20, $23+ for adults, $13+ for children, Crownsville).
Theater:
- See comic play Noises Off at Keegan Theatre (August 1 through September 1, $50, Dupont).
- Watch a variety of movies and documentaries at African Diaspora International Film Festival (August 2-4, $30+, George Washington University).
- Get tickets to Nine—a musical adaptation of the film 8½. (August 2 through August 11, $59+, Kennedy Center).
- Explore the themes of music, family, and Greece in this revival of MAMMA MIA! (August 13 through September 1, $49+, Kennedy Center).
- The highly-anticipated MJ the Musical arrives at National Theatre (August 13-September 8, $45+, Downtown).
- View short documentaries and narrative films from local producers and creatives at DC Black Film Festival at Miracle Theatre (August 15-25, $15+, Eastern Market).
Shows and performances:
- Comedian Tom Papa performs his stand-up live at Maryland Hall (August 2, $60+, Annapolis).
- Comedian Jordan Klepper arrives at the Kennedy Center. (August 3, $39+, Kennedy Center)
- Get tickets to comedian Tony Rock’s DC Improv show before it sells out (August 8-11, $35+, Downtown).
- This lively event invites concertgoers to sing-along to a movie screening of The Sound of Music (August 16, $29+, Vienna).
- Jerry Seinfield arrives at Wolf Trap to perform two shows (August 19-20, $55+, Vienna).
- This summer’s Opera in the Outfield broadcast is a screening of Turandot (August 24, free, Nationals Park).
Music:
- Rapper Missy Elliott headlines her first-ever tour. You can groove to her upbeat hits alongside Ciara and Busta Rhymes (August 8, $80+, Capital One Arena).
- Mayday Parade, Maine, and Wonder Years headline Sad Summer Festival at Merriweather Post Pavilion (August 9, $59+, Columbia).
- Watch the Nats play against the Los Angeles Angels, and stick around for the Teddy Swims post-baseball concert (August 9, $23+, Nationals Park).
- Pop-rock star Grace Potter and renowned jazz-fusion band Snarky Puppy are the main acts at Maryland’s Hot August Music Festival (August 10, $89+, Cockeysville).
- Rock out to AFI’s hardcore-punk rhythms at Merriweather Post Pavilion (August 15, $25+, Columbia).
- Listen to New Found Glory play their entire Catalyst album live (August 19, $42+, Silver Spring).
- Punk-rockers The Gaslight Anthem perform live at the Anthem (August 20, $45+, Wharf).
- R&B superstar Usher arrives in DC to promote his latest album (August 20-21, $174+, Capital One Arena).
- Korchfest celebrates musician Brandon Korch’s 40th birthday with live music collaborations at Black Cat (August 23, $15+, Shaw).
- This dance party tribute to Sophie includes pop-up drag performances (August 23, $15, U Street Corridor).
- If you couldn’t snag a ticket to local group All Time Low’s DC shows, then catch the rock group perform at Merriweather Post Pavilion (August 24, $45+, Columbia).
- Rapper Ohgeesy takes the Howard Theatre stage (August 24, $25+, U Street Corridor).
- Sing-along to all your Avril Lavigne favorites from the ’00s at Jiffy Lube Live (August 31, $78+, Bristow).
- Pack your tent and spend Labor Day weekend with fellow roots-music fans at Appaloosa Festival (August 31 through September 1, $60+, Front Royal).
Bites and beverages:
- Taste of Leesburg has break-dancing performances, celebrity impersonators, and, new this year, an arcade (August 10, free, $40+ for taste tickets, Leesburg).
- Catch brunch, lunch, and dinner deals during DC Summer Restaurant Week (August 12-18, $25+, various participating locations).
- Bourbon connoisseurs and beer aficionados can sample drinks at Virginia Bourbon and Beer Festival (August 17, $40+, Fredericksburg).
- Old Town’s Oronoco Bay Park offers a chance to try cuisine from around the globe, including Japan, Malaysia, Peru, and Lebanon at Around the World Cultural Food Festival (August 24, free, Alexandria).
Things to do with kids:
- The family-friendly Howard County Fair is back this month carnival rides and fair food (August 3-10, $10, West Friendship).
- It’s the 75th Montgomery County Fair; don’t miss the pig races (August 9-17, $12+ for adultes, free for ages 11 and under, Gaithersburg).
- There’s horse shows, kid attractions, and more fun at Prince William County Fair (August 9-17, $25 for adults, $15 for children, Manassas).
- Youngsters can ride a ferris wheel at Clarke County Fair (August 11-18, $10 for adults, free+ for children, Berryville).
- Kids can exercise and venture through obstacle courses on Kids Court at Arlington County Fair (August 14-18, free, Arlington).
- The whole family can take part in carnival ride, live concerts, and farming fun at Maryland State Fair (select dates August 22 through September 8, $15 for adults, free for children under 5, Lutherville-Timonium).
- Kids can venture through a 12-acre play area, ride a cow-themed train, and roast marshmallows at Great Country Farms (August 31 through September 30, $16+ for adults, $14+ for children, Bluemont).
A version of this article appears in the August 2024 issue of Washingtonian.
One family, four generations with DC Metro
As Metro celebrates 50 years of service, one D.C. family is marking the milestone with a legacy of their own — four generations who have all worked on the system, helping keep the region moving for decades.
WASHINGTON – D.C. residents got on their first Metro train 50 years ago on March 27, 1976. Here’s a look back at the beginning.
Connecticut Avenue; NW; looking south. evening traffic-jams are aggravated by metro subway construction in Washington D.C. ca. 1973 (Photo by: HUM Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
View of the Metro Center subway station (at 13th and G Streets NW) during its construction, Washington DC, November 16, 1973. (Photo by Warren K Leffler/PhotoQuest/Getty Images)
Standing in the cavernous tunnel, planners wearing hard hats discuss the construction progress of the Metro Center subway station at the intersection of 13th and G Streets in Washington, DC, November 16, 1973. (Photo by Leffler/Library of Congress/In
WASHINGTON, DC – NOVEMBER 07: FILE, Metro construction miners and blasters on a jumbo drill outside the hole they are working on at Rock Creek Parkway and Cathedral Ave NW in Washington, DC on November 7, 1973. (Photo by James K.W Atherton/The Washin
WASHINGTON, DC – MARCH 4: FILE, View of the Post Office at North Capital and Mass Avenue NE, and 1st NE where subway tunnels were being constructed in Washington, DC on March 4, 1974. (Photo by Joe Heiberger/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC – AUGUST 29: FILE, Workers rig a pipe at the entrance to the Rosslyn Metro Station in Washington DC on August 29, 1974 (Photo by Larry Morris/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC – MARCH 27: FILE, The crowd at Rhode Island Station on opening day of the Washington Metro on March 27, 1976. (Photo by James A. Parcell/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC – MARCH 28: FILE, Reverend Leslie E. Smith of the Episcopal Church, right, and George Docherty of New York Avenue Presbyterian church hold a joint service at the new Metro Center station in Washington, DC on March 28, 1976. (Photo by D
WASHINGTON, DC – JULY 1: FILE, An aerial view of metro construction where it crosses the Washington Channel. The Potomac River, the Pentagon and Northern Virginia can be seen in the distance. (Photo by Ken Feil/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 27: FILE, A packed train of commuters on the Silver Spring metro on the Red Line on January 27, 1987. (Photo by Dudley M. Brooks/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC – JULY 4: FILE, Thousands of people press their way into the Smithsonian Subway station after the Independence Day fireworks in Washington, DC on July 4, 1979. (Photo by Lucian Perkins/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Among the liquor store, barber shop and dry cleaners at the Watergate Complex’s retail plaza, there is a new pop-up museum dedicated to the scene of the crime that toppled Richard Nixon’s presidency.
Among the liquor store, barber shop and dry cleaners at the Watergate Complex’s retail plaza, there is a new pop-up museum dedicated to the scene of the crime that toppled Richard Nixon’s presidency.
The temporary exhibit features the work of artist Laurie Munn — portraits of members of the Nixon administration and those connected to the Watergate break-in. The exhibit features members of Congress, the media and some who were on Nixon’s enemies list.
Keith Krom, chair of the Board of Directors of the Watergate Museum, told WTOP the exhibit was first featured in the gallery in 2012 for the 40th anniversary of the break-in at the Democratic National Committee.
“When she (Munn) learned about our museum effort, she offered to reassemble them as a way for us to expand awareness of the museum,” Krom said.
Krom, who lives in the Watergate, said his favorite portrait is of one of the special prosecutors, whose firing sparked the “Saturday Night Massacre” in 1973.
“I had the pleasure of being a student of Archibald Cox,” Krom said. “He served as my mentor for my third-year writing project.”
Krom said during this time, at the Boston University School of Law, he spent a great deal of time with him.
“I didn’t realize how much he must have gone through. Here he was, this one man, who was challenging the president of the United States over something pretty serious,” Krom said.
The pop-up opened in October and was recently extended to stay open until April 25. Krom said the hope is to find it a permanent location within the Watergate Complex, where they can “present the history of Watergate, but with two perspectives.”
The first would be on the building’s “architectural significance to D.C.,” he said.
“You may not like the design, you actually may hate it,” Krom said. “But you cannot deny that it changed D.C.’s skyline.”
The secondary focus would, of course, be on the mother of all presidential scandals that changed the course of American history.
“That’s where that suffix ‘-gate’ started and continues to be used for almost every scandal that comes out today,” Krom said.
The inspiration for the museum spawned from an interaction from a tourist outside the Watergate.
“He says, ‘This is the Watergate, right?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, it’s one of the buildings,’” Krom recalled.
The tourist then asked Krom, “So where’s the museum?”
“I was like, ‘Oh, we don’t have a museum.’ And he literally just looked at me and said, ‘That’s so sad.’ And he got on his bike and rode away,” Krom said.
While the self-proclaimed political history nerd said he “still gets goose bumps” when he drives by the Capitol at night, Krom hopes that when people leave the museum, “they’ll walk away with a new appreciation for how our government works, the guardrails that are in place.”
“Maybe an understanding that those guardrails themselves are kind of frail, and they probably need our collective help in making sure they last — that’s what we hope to accomplish,” Krom said.
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According to the National Park Service at the National Mall, famous cherry blossoms around the nation’s capital have hit peak bloom conditions. The National Park Service X account for the National Mall proclaimed this morning, “PEAK BLOOM! PEAK BLOOM! PEAK BLOOM!”
It became apparent yesterday that the bloom would be at peak today. “Despite a sunny afternoon and patches of blue sky, the cherry blossoms remain at Stage 5: Puffy White,” the Park Service wrote on X yesterday. Stage 5, “Puffy White”, is the final stage blossoms go through before being in full bloom. They start at Stage 1 as a “Green Bud”, grow into Stage 2 with “Florets Visible”, and then florets become extended at Stage 3. In Stage 4, there is “Peduncle Elongation” which sets the stage for the puffy blossoms to appear in Stage 5. Puffy White and Peak Bloom are defined as when 70% of the blossoms on the trees reach that stage.
Peak bloom varies annually depending on weather conditions; the most likely time to reach peak bloom is between the last week of March and the first week of April. According to the Park Service, extraordinary warm or cool temperatures have resulted in peak bloom as early as March 15 in 1990 and as late as April 18 in 1958.
The planting of cherry trees in Washington DC originated in 1912 as a gift of friendship to the People of the United States from the People of Japan. In Japan, the flowering cherry tree, or “Sakura,” is an important flowering plant. The beauty of the cherry blossom is a symbol with rich meaning in Japanese culture.
Dr. David Fairchild, plant explorer and U.S. Department of Agriculture official, imported seventy-five flowering cherry trees and twenty-five single-flowered weeping types from the Yokohama Nursery Company in Japan. After experimenting with growing them on his own property in Maryland, he deemed that the cherry tree would be perfect to plant around the Washington DC area. This triggered an interest by a variety of individuals to plant the tree around Washington. In 1909 the Mayor of Tokyo, Yukio Ozaki, donated 2,000 trees to the United States on behalf of his city. When the trees arrived, they were riddled with disease and insects and to protect other agriculture, they were burned. The Tokyo Mayor made a second donation of trees in 1910, this time amounting to 3,020 trees. This started the forest of cherry trees that now line the Potomac basin around Washington DC. In a gesture of gratitude back to Japan, President Taft sent a gift in 1915 of flowering dogwood trees to the people of Japan. Thousands of trees have been added since, including another gift of 3,800 trees from Japan in 1965.
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