If asking yourself what’s there to do this weekend, we’ve got an answer for you:
PLENTY! A LOT! SO MUCH THAT IT MAKES YOU CRAZY!
Why, there’s an arts festival, a big neighborhood festival, 9/11 memorial events, the start of the NFL Football Season and the start of the Washington National Opera Season, plus the beginning of the season for a number of theater companies and probably a few other things we just plain forgot about.
Check it out: The Penn Quarter Arts on Foot Festival for 2011 is a neighborhood and city institution that this year has expanded to two days in the buzz-filled, hyper-energized downtown area which encompasses a multitude of restaurants, the Verizon Center, theaters and museums on a daily basis.
As always, the Festival includes an art market, live performances on stages at the festival and a showcase of the work of some 25 area theaters in the elegant Harman Hall, home to the Shakespeare Theatre Company. There will be artist studio showcases, food and wine to buy and food and wine to appreciate by way of demonstrations by top D.C. Chefs and sampling. The weekend will also offer 9/11 commemorative events. Things start at 11 a.m. and run through 7 p.m. on Saturday and from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday.
A festival of another sort, but with equally strong traditions, is the annual Adams Morgan Day Festival from noon to 7 p.m. on Sunday, in which D.C.’s most diverse and eclectic and ethnic neighborhood showcases its music, its food, its customs and its people from a stretch of 18th Street at Columbia Road to Florida Avenue. Here’s where the streets famous restaurants and clubs like Madam’s Organ and Columbia Station become a part of the scenery. You can smell its heavily spiced foods even before you get there. There’s also a dance plaza, art shows, kid fair and lots of cultural demonstration and no doubt an elected official or two. Listen to the sounds of the rumba, salsa, blues and rock and roll and rap, yo.
On Saturday, the Washington National Opera opens its season—now affiliated with the Kennedy Center—with “Tosca” in the old style: suits, ties, some tuxedos and gowns and grand Puccini music at the KC Opera House.
If Sunday weren’t busy enough, there’s the 5th annual Unity Walk, an inter-faith, cross-cultural commemoration of Sept. 11 with an eye toward peace and understanding. The bulk of the march takes place on Massachusetts Avenue, with stops at synagogues, the National Cathedral and the mosque. Speakers include the Rev. Mpho Tutu and Arum Gandhi.
The National Cathedral will also be holding special events, concerts and services on the occasion of memorializing the 9/11 attacks.
That’s just a taste. Don’t stay in indoors. It’s bound to stop raining sometimes. But if must stay indoors or in a sports bar, the college and NFL football season kicks off officially this weekend, plus there’s the U.S. Open Tennis Tournament and major league baseball, including Nationals, soon may they win.
Check out photos by Jeff Malet from Arts on Foot Festival!
Enjoy!
