Washington, D.C

41 Things to Do in the DC Area This Week and Weekend

Published

2 years ago

August 12, 2024

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41 Things to Do in the DC Area This Week and Weekend

Photograph courtesy of Arlington Strategy.

Happy Monday, DC!

It’s Summer Restaurant Week. Satisfy your taste buds with local bites and good deals at hundreds of area restaurants. Or, dance along to Michael Jackson’s greatest hits at the local opening of MJ the Musical.

Best Things to Do This Week and Weekend

August 12–August 18

1. Summer Restaurant Week. Catch brunch, lunch, and dinner deals during DC Summer Restaurant Week at more than 300 participating eateries. You can visit new dining rooms such as Mallard, Pastis, Cucina Morini, and Namak for discount bites. Or, stop by longtime favorites like Central or Rasika for more delicious options (Mon-Sun, $25+, various participating locations).
2. Future and Metro Boomin concert. Atlanta rapper Future and producer Metro Boomin bring their brooding beats and rhymes to Capital One Arena to promote two recent collaborative albums, We Don’t Trust You and We Still Don’t Trust You (Sat, $134+, Capital One Arena).
3. “MJ the Musical.” The highly-anticipated MJ the Musical arrives at National Theatre after a Tony award-winning stint on Broadway. The touring show created by Christopher Wheeldon and two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage will run in DC for a few weeks, bringing Michael Jackson’s electrifying hits back to the stage (Tues-September 8, $45+, Downtown).
4. Arlington County Fair. Arlington County Fair is back this summer at Thomas Jefferson Community Center with a ton of festive fun for all ages. Kids can exercise and venture through obstacle courses on the Kids Court, families can groove to local bands in the entertainment tent, and there’s hotdogs, seafood, and ice cream at Food Truck Alley (Wed-Sun, free, Arlington).
5. “West Wing” cast at Sixth & I. 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 (Sat, $40 for ticket and signed book, $12+ for virtual, Downtown).
6. Alexandria Restaurant Week. More than 90 eateries and lounges are serving multi-course dinner menus for Alexandria Restaurant Week. Foodies can dine at neighborhood places such as Beeliner Diner, Cheesetique, and Don Taco, for prices starting at $27.50—a nod to Alexandria’s 275th birthday (Fri through August 25, $27+, Alexandria).

Want More Things to Do?

Arts and culture:

Check out paintings, prints, and other artworks from “Golden: Fifty Years of New Classics” at MOCA Arlington (through September 8, free, Arlington).
Author Briana Pegado inspires readers to Make Good Trouble. Learn self-care tips from her at Solid State Books (Mon, free, $21 for the book, H Street Corridor).
Discover DC’s unique places and hidden gems with author JoAnn Hill at the library (Tues, free, Northeast DC).
YouTuber Brian Tyler Cohen visits Sixth & I with his debut book, Shameless: Republicans’ Deliberate Dysfunction and the Battle to Preserve Democracy (Wed, $20+ for in-person, $12+ for virtual, Downtown).
Create-your-own leaf rubbing print at Shop Made in DC (Wed, $30, Georgetown).
Evan Friss surveys the country’s book industry in his new book, The Bookshop: A History of the American Bookstore (Wed, free, Northwest DC).
View short documentaries and narrative films from local producers and creatives at the DC Black Film Festival at Miracle Theatre (Thurs- August 25, $15+, Eastern Market).
Artist Tuan Andrew Nguyen makes a DC debut with the multimedia installation “The Island” (Fri-May 4, 2025, free, Smithsonian American Art Museum).
Make a new friend, or lover, at WHINO’s Single’s Mixer. There’s bingo, speed dating, and a live DJ (Sat, $12+, Arlington).
Sneaker Con returns to Walter E. Washington Convention Center for a two-day showcase of the trendiest kicks (Sat-Sun, $30+, Mount Vernon Square).
Attend a collaging workshop with artist Helina Metaferia at the Phillips Collection (Sun, $20, Dupont).

Community and heritage:

Learn about historic sewn objects from DAR Museum experts (Tues, free, but registration is encouraged, virtual, Downtown).
Learn about the Civil War and its connection to Western medicine from author Carole Adrienne (Tues, $10, virtual).

Theater and shows:

Explore the themes of music, family, and Greece in this revival of Mamma Mia! (Tues through September 1, $49+, Kennedy Center).
Centerstage Academy for the Arts performs In the Heights (Thurs-Fri, $60, Bowie).
This lively event invites concertgoers to sing-along to a movie screening of The Sound of Music (Fri, $29+, Vienna).
Comedian and actor Ben Schwartz performs with friends at the Anthem (Fri, $49+, Wharf).

Music and concerts:

Pianist Five for Fighting plays soft rock music at Lincoln Theatre (Tues, $35, U Street Corridor).
Supreme Commander, Cryptid Summer, and Drivel rock the library with a rooftop punk concert (Wed, free, MLK Library).
Go-go groovers The Experience Band & Show perform at Rock the Dock (Wed, free, Wharf).
Rock out to AFI’s hardcore-punk rhythms at Merriweather Post Pavilion (Thurs, $25+, Columbia).
’90s and ’00s beats keep the party vibes going at You Know the Vibes Social Pop Up (Sat, free+, Dupont).

Get involved:

Participate in a vegetation cleanup of Rosslyn Trail (Tues, free, Arlington).
Eat sausages, dance to live bands, and go to a foam party for a good cause. Sausagefest at Wunder Garten is helping to raise funds for the new DC LGBTQ+ Community Center (Sat-Sun, free, NoMa).

Bites and beverages:

The Yards’ first-ever Bark Crawl invites humans and their four-legged companions to bar-hop at area restaurants such as Trouble, La Famosa, and Emmy Squared (Wed, free, Navy Yard).
Celebrate all things tomato at Common Good City Farm’s Tomato Party (Thurs, free, but donations welcome, Shaw).
Bourbon connoisseurs and beer aficionados can sample drinks at Virginia Bourbon and Beer Festival (Sat, $40+, Fredericksburg).

Budget-friendly:

Stroll through the scenic US Botanic Gardens after hours for ice cream and mocktails (Thurs, free, Southwest DC).
Shop candles, clothes, and other goods from small businesses at the Unique Markets summer pop-up (Sat, free+, Union Market).
There’s good energy, music, and food trucks at Sandlot Georgetown’s day party (Sat, free+, Georgetown).

Plan ahead:

Jerry Seinfield arrives at Wolf Trap to perform two shows (August 19-20, $55+, Vienna).

Things to do with kids:

It’s the final week to attend the 75th Montgomery County Fair (closes Sat, $12+ for adults, free for ages 11 and under, Gaithersburg).
Take your kids to a horse show at Prince William County Fair before it closes (closes Sat, $25 for adults, $15 for children, Manassas).
There are rides and attractions for kiddos at the Clarke County Fair (closes Sun, $10 for adults, free+ for children, Berryville).
Students can pick up school supplies and play games at this community field day (Sun, donations welcome, Anacostia).

If you enjoyed these events, please don’t forget to share this post with a friend on social media, and sign up for our newsletter for more things to do.

Briana A. Thomas is a local journalist, historian, and tour guide who specializes in the research of D.C. history and culture. She is the author of the Black history book, Black Broadway in Washington, D.C., a story that was first published in Washingtonian in 2016.

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Washington, D.C

50 years of DC Metro: A look back in photos

Published

2 hours ago

March 27, 2026

Press Room

50 years of DC Metro: A look back in photos

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)

Washington Metropolitan Area Transit AuthorityNewsWashington, D.C.

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Washington, D.C

Pop-up museum in DC features the scandal that changed American history – WTOP News

Published

14 hours ago

March 26, 2026

Press Room

Pop-up museum in DC features the scandal that changed American history – WTOP News

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 President Nixon’s enemies list.(WTOP/Jimmy Alexander)

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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Washington, D.C

Cherry Blossoms Hit Peak Bloom in Washington DC

Published

1 day ago

March 26, 2026

Press Room

Cherry Blossoms Hit Peak Bloom in Washington DC

Almost at peak! A view of the cherry trees in Washington DC show they’re about to burst into peak bloom very soon. Image: NPS

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.

An explosion of blooming flowers is about to hit Washington DC's parks. Image: NPS — An explosion of blooming flowers is about to hit Washington DC’s parks. Image: NPS

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.

Cherry blossom in Washington DC. Image: Weatherboy

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.