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Georgetowner • July 13, 2012

On Monday, July 16, for the second year, the Georgetown Media Group continues the popular summer event, Chefs Go Fresh. Local chefs will rev up for a motorcycle tour of local farms, sponsored by the Maryland State Department of Agriculture, in an effort to build relationships with area purveyors of produce, meats and other farm-raised products.

Chefs and others will start the day with breakfast at Brasserie Beck Restaurant, hosted by chef Robert Wiedmaier, co-founder of the original “Chefs on Bikes,” and owner of Marcel’s, Brasserie Beck, Brabo, Mussel Bar and the new Mussel Bar Atlantic City. Participating chefs will ride their motorcycles through the scenic Maryland countryside, stopping at select Maryland farms for presentations by farmers and highlights of Maryland’s Best products. The day will conclude with a pig roast lunch, hosted by “Top Chef” finalist, James Beard nominee and local agriculture supporter Bryan Voltaggio at his much-anticipated and soon-to-open restaurant, Family Meal.

The following are the three stops along the motorcycle tour:

The Maryland Department of Agriculture is focused on public service, education and promotion of agriculture and its importance and impact on the economy of Maryland. Its goal is to identify and develop profitable marketing local, national and international opportunities for Maryland farmers and agricultural producers as well as the state’s brand; Maryland’s Best.

The Georgetown Media Group publishes The Georgetowner and Downtowner Newspapers. The Georgetowner is a bi-weekly, tabloid-style publication in its 58th year which reaches the affluent community in Georgetown and surrounding areas of metropolitan D.C., with a circulation of 40,000. The Downtowner, a sister publication, has a distribution of 10,000 papers in the heart of downtown D.C.

For more information email ChefsGoFresh@georgetowner.com

For Restaurant Professionals and Media Only

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Alexis Williams • July 12, 2012

Looking to get out of the house for a full day of fun? If your summer schedule has come to a standstill, venture out to the National Mall for the annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival. The two-week artistic event, which kicked off on June 27, features countless musicians, artists, activists and performers sharing their traditions and embracing cultural differences.

Three program themes — Campus and Community, Citified, and Creativity and Crisis — take attendees on an educational excursion from learning about how to improve their local communities to experiencing classic funk music.

Campus and Community features public universities and the U.S. Department of Agriculture together for discussions and activities about issues such as health care and sustainable living. The Citified program focuses on creativity, identity and neighborhoods in Southeast Washington, D.C. Finally, Creativity and Crisis exclusively centers on artistic expression of grief through performances and crafts.

A classic centerpiece of the festival is the AIDS Memorial Quilt, which celebrated its 25th anniversary. The quilt, which is the largest community art project in the world, allows individuals to commemorate, through quilt-making activities, friends and loved ones who succumbed to AIDS.

Coinciding with the AIDS programming, Tony-nominated actress and AIDS activist Sheryl Lee Ralph performed a series of monologues entitled “Sometimes I Cry”: Raising Our Women’s Consciousness to This Crippling Epidemic HIV/AIDS. Featured as part of the Creativity and Crisis program, Ralph performed nine moving stories of women infected with HIV/AIDS.

To find out more about the Smithsonian Folk Life Festival, visit the Smithsonian Folklife Festival website. The first week of the festival lasts through July 1, and the second week runs July 4 through 8. [gallery ids="100882,127510,127501,127506" nav="thumbs"]

Gary Tischler •

I became a United States citizen in 1959 on my 18th birthday after I had already graduated from South Amherst High School, in South Amherst, a small (pop. 1,500 or so) town, south of Cleveland, Ohio, with all the requisite virtues of small town life along with some of its restrictions and limitations.

I raised my right hand and swore to uphold and all the rest in a county court in Elyria, Ohio. I think I loved this country, the United States of America, long before I swore to obey its laws and honor it in the company of other citizens-to-be who came from everywhere.

I started to love this country when I first set foot on American soil for real–the New York airport doesn’t count. That was in 1952 when I was put on a TWA propeller driven airliner that took me from Munich, to Paris to New York. I was all off ten years old, couldn’t speak a word of English or American, except “hot dog” and “GI Joe.”

I was the last installment in a three-pronged immigration plan begun when my step-father, Mihailo Radicanin, who came here for a job in the U.S. Steel mill in Lorain, Ohio, a mid-sized city near Lake Erie where many of his fellow Yugoslavians, a-k-a Serbs and Croatians, had come to join the great and soon-to-boom American work force. In time, Mihailo earned enough money to send for my mother, a factory worker, Bavarian, and a divorced mother whom he married here. Four years later, it was my turn to come to America.

I mention all this because at that age–even then–I wanted to be an American more than anything in the world except a cowboy, which was the same thing in my mind. I loved hot dogs immediately–ate a dozen at my first picnic and got sick–but I also loved the movies, the abundance of books, both comic and actual, the blue skies which I knew stretched to everywhere out there in this big country. Coming from a country which was still clearing out rubble from its major cities in the wake of World War II, the streets of Ohio, the farmlands surrounding South Amherst, the car-filled roads, the football and baseball fields, the homeyness of American homes seemed as fresh as a hearty baby to me. Mihailo drove a 1952 Pontiac which I would drive into an apple tree years later.

I fell in love immediately, much like an adolescent boy gets stone smitten by the sight of an impossibly beautiful girl except that the girl rewards the love in impossible ways. I heard that phrase a lot over the years: the pursuit of happiness and I think I understood it a little better than some because my memories of Germany were always close to the surface, with additions from studies in recent history. My stepfather and mother understood it too–they weren’t rich, not even without economic worry since strikes and layoffs were regular features of the economy in the 1950s. But they acquired a house on eight acres in the South Amherst area for $8,000, which included an apple orchard, a bunch of chickens, plowed lanes and a falling-down barn.

They retired to Sun City, Arizona, which did not have cowboys, but I was long out of the house by then. I grew up and was raised through an American childhood. I learned to love the country–not uncritically, without question–but with an enduring passion for the old verities of freedom of thought, diversity, tolerance and such even when they were not being practiced. There was a reason there were so many people named Washington and Jefferson in America.

I lapped it all up in my growing up in small town America. Every year in high school, I won an American Legion essay contest on patriotism and its American variations. This essay is probably not as good or as fresh as any of the ones from my youth.

I grew up in sunlight and the green grass of a long front yard which I mowed diligently. I know that in America, opportunity always beckons, not always obviously, not in equal ways, but nonetheless, in all manner of occurrences. I feel even at this advanced age, lucky to live here, in the nation’s capital, to take in its history, its celebrations of history, the closeby breath of history.

I thought about this going through the exhibition about the War of 1812, thinking of Decatur House, of Andrew Jackson in Lafayette Park. Lake Erie looms big in this tale, which is large and complicated, and the words of Oliver Hazard Perry, “We have met the enemy, and they are ours,” our part of Ohio junior high school history books along with Tecumseh. Here, the British torching of government buildings in 1814 is a local tale, but “the Star-Spangled Banner” is everyone’s song.

To this day, I remember, as Neil Diamond sings in his hokey but undeniably affecting song, “Coming to America.”

That was 50 years ago on a month in June, a summer in Ohio beckoning. Mihailo passed away in Sun City in the late 1990s; my mother followed in the post 9/11 world. And here I am, still in love with America, waywardly, critically, but always passionately.

Happy Fourth of July. Happy Birthday, America.

Gary Tischler •

Just when you think it’s safe to go out on a Friday night, you discover a new creature blasting out of the weather misery index headed straight to a neighborhood near you.

What we had here, folks, was a derecho, a storm phenom that occurs under conditions of extreme heat. All around D.C., we had all the fixings for a derecho visitation, which is short (maybe a half an hour) and extremely intense, as we found out in the morning.

It was as bad as it sounds, and it was enough to make you retcho. Along with sorrow for the deaths the storm caused, my sympathy—heartfelt and relieved—goes out to everyone who was otherwise most directly affected by the results of the derecho—trees falling on houses, power outages, loss of communicastions, loss of homes and shelter, loss of frozen food, loss of care, long lines spent idling in gas stations, of which there were precious few in the D.C. metro area. People lost power and resorted to eating by candlelight, and all their gadgets suddenly dimmed, or failed, or were of no use. There was maximum texting and tweeting but only if your gadgets worked.

Some of us were lucky, some of us were not—but the whole area, to some degree or another felt the effect of what’s basically a really extreme summer storm, full of hail, lightning, powerful winds, sheeting rain and thunder brought on by extreme summer heat—in June, no less. In D.C., temperatures had hit 104 June 29, and early in the evening, weathermen were already warning about the oncoming stretch and line of storms. “Everybody’s going to get it,” and “There’s no escape” and such and such a place “is getting hammered,” where common expressions of what was coming and what was happening. Of course, it’s tough to heed the warnings when your television shuts down.

We heard the 70 to 80 to 90 miles per hour winds in our Adams Morgan neighborhood, which for the most part escaped relatively unscathed, although all of us feared the worst, having experienced 50-inch snow, power outages and a real hurricane. But we could see the aftermath—branches all over the streets, some smaller trees down along with big branches. On Woodley Place near the National Zoo, a major, old, huge tree had cracked and uprooted, stretching itself across the street and on top of two houses.

Similar sights—in the forms of videos and photos on line were seen all over the District and in Maryland and Virginia. Huge power outages occurred—and Pepco, in spite of all those television commercials about caring for their customers and getting their act together, appears still not to have its act together, with at last count around 30 to 40,000 customers without power and not expected to bring back full power for another week — a situation Gov. Martin O’Malley of Maryland said was completely unacceptable.

We live, of course, in an age of extremes—extreme partisanship, extreme fighting, extreme Kardashian, and especially extreme weather, although not extreme global warming, according to some. Still, it’s 106 in Atlanta, Colorado is burning, and we’re facing 90-degree-plus heat for the next ten One of the things we find about events like these is that it brings people out to help each other—libraries open their doors and air conditioning to displaced persons, neighbors take in their neighbors, people check on their neighbors, their children and pets. Or not: a Motel 6 hotel apparently upped their rates to $500 a night, anticipating a huge profit. Deretcho indeed. [gallery ids="100886,127650,127627,127645,127637" nav="thumbs"]

Georgetowner •

On behalf of the Georgetown Media Group, we would like to welcome our new neighbor, Zoe Feldman. This local designer started her business, Zoe Feldman Designs in 2004 and relocated to her new office space above the Georgetown Media Group on Potomac Street June 29. We had the opportunity to sit down with Feldman and ask her about her company and what got her there.

Q: How did you get started?

A: A couple of good choices and a lot of luck. I went to school for advertising and found out it wasn’t my jam. So, I went to interior design school, and got an internship with Mark Hampton, Inc. It turned into an assistant job, and by the time I left I was a designer.

Q: How long have you been in the interior designing business?

A: I started my business in 2004, and I’ve been in the Georgetown area for almost five years. We just moved from down the street because it was too small. The new space is the perfect fit, and it was the push we needed to take a risk.

Q: What’s your design style?

A: Classic modernism. I grew up in a mid-century modern home with pop art. I use a blend of classical and modern, and I like to modernize traditional spaces but also pay homage to the history. My design style is always evolving.

Q: What kind of demographic do you try to appeal to?

A: I’d say young professionals. Cool couples in their 40s, a few bachelors and more established clients. Basically, people looking for a little more of a less traditional D.C. look.

Q: What inspires you?

A: I’m very inspired by art, nature-like colors and texture in nature and fashion. I look at what the space is begging for. The space I work in and the clients are the most important things.

Q: Is there any thing else you’d like the Georgetowner readers to know?

A: I’m a fan of Georgetown, and I’m for hire!

To see Zoe Feldman portfolio visit. zoefeldmandesign.com [gallery ids="100888,127652" nav="thumbs"]

Robert Devaney •

We all want to go green, but this is ridiculous.

The June 29 storm felled a huge tree at the corner of Prospect & 35th Streets, NW. The downed tree is a traffic-stopper and apparently wins the prize for biggest tree on the ground in Georgetown.

The entire tree snapped from its roots and landed directly along the sidewalk. The branches destroyed windows, damaged roofs and blocked access and egress to the several homes for a time. While cars were parked on the street, all but one BMW escaped serious damage.

At one Prospect Street house, which has no power, tree branches not only damaged the roof and smashed glass and paster into a second-floor bedroom, it pulled an electrical box off the outside wall of the house near its main entrance which is now blocked by tree branches. (All other homes on the 3400 block of Prospect Street have power.)

D.C.’s Department of Transportation stopped by the corner to look at the tree June 30 in the afternoon and recorded information into its system. (The tree is on District of Columbia land.) Advisory neighborhood commissioner Bill Starrels rushed to the scene when called July 1 by a resident. He, too, was astonished by the downed tree, saying, “It is the biggest one I’ve seen in Georgetown.” Starrels immediately contacted the mayor’s office.

Residents sawed off branches to clear the entrances to their homes. All the while, curious on-lookers photographed and posed alongside it — verifying the phenomenon, known as “disaster tourists.”

As for the powerless Prospect Street home, the owner who has lived there for decades said that she saw tiny sparks coming from the smashed outside electrical box. Pepco arrived to check the house without power around 9 a.m. July 2 and said tree branches were blocking its access to the box and walked away.

Meanwhile, the popular tree in front of six houses now poses traffic safety problems: curious amateur photographers take pictures of the tree, sometimes in the middle of the busy intersection, and cars stop to gawk and further block traffic. (Prospect Street is a mini M Street with delivery trucks, tour buses and commuters using it constantly.)

As for the Prospect Street residents, like many around D.C., they are fed up — and are chopping, sawing and clearing a pathway, waiting no longer. [gallery ids="100889,127683,127675,127657,127670,127665" nav="thumbs"]

Gary Tischler •

There was always more to Andy Griffith than meets the eye, or at least that part of his legacy which consists of the self-contained world of Mayberry, the small North Carolina town in which he starred as Andy Taylor, the town sheriff who didn’t pack a gun and raised his son Opie to grow up normal.

That was the world of “The Andy Griffith Show,” a hugely successful television sitcom which ran for eight-years into the teeth of the 1960s, extolling classic, small-town values and virtues in a United States that was rapidly changing in its cultural mores. Mayberry existed fictionally in a country where the birth control pill sparked a sexual revolution, where the war over civil rights was entering its most dramatic, violent and transformative phase in the South and all over the country, where America’s war in Viet Nam would expand until it began to tear the country’s politics into pieces. Still popular, the show ended in 1968, the year both Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert Kennedy were assassinated, Richard Nixon elected president and the Black Panthers became a political force. Need we add the surprise of the Tet Offense and the power of the “Silent Majority”? In Mayberry, the 1960s stopped just outside the town limits, or stayed on a train that never whizzed by and never stopped.

In Mayberry, the talk was often led by Aunt Bea, or about finding a mother for Opie, gossiping on the town’s only phone line, father-and-son doings between Andy Taylor and Opie, Deputy Barney Fife’s hysterical doings and the occasional speeding ticket or moonshining trouble. The whistling theme which announced the opening theme of “The Andy Griffith Show” was every bit as familiar to Americans as Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are A Changing,” which had long ago become a battle hymn of the counter-culture republic. In Mayberry, the times were not a changing, which might account for its audience appeal in a country constantly in mounting turmoil.

When some of us who grew up in small towns watched this show—however, we might not admit it to our long-haired hippie friends—we were drawn back into our school days, in the town we ran away from screaming. It was one of those strange constants in America’s popular culture life where both Andy Griffith and the music of Andy Williams would co-exist with the Byrds and eventually, yes, Meathead from Archie Bunker’s TV world.

Because the show was so well-acted, especially by Griffith, who underacted American decency to the point of authenticity, and so heavily populated by outrageously eccentric characters, it became an enduring part of our life, unforgettable in its own way. The only pot prevalent in Mayberry was the pot containing Aunt Bea’s latest cooking miracle.

Griffith, who died at the age of 86 this week, would be the first to tell you that he was hardly as saintly virtuous and common-sense steady as the part he played on the show. “He was the best part of me,” he said. “But he wasn’t the only part.” In fact, Griffith said his personality contained chunks of the character he played in “A Face in the Crowd,” a dark film about American politics directed by Elia Kazan in which he played, to chilling effect, a malevolent country drifter and television host who used his position and everybody around him to become a highly popular and despotic politician.

Griffith came from a town similar in size and ambiance to Mayberry: Mount Airy, N.C., which today has its own Andy Griffith Parkway. He had hard-scrabble beginnings but was encouraged by teachers in his interests in music and drama. He tried his hand at acting and being a stand-up comedian, with a bit that included trying to explain football to a non-gridiron fan. He became noticed in a hit live drama performance of “No Time For Sergeants” during television’s golden age of live drama. The show was eventually turned into a hit Broadway production and included a cast member named Don Knotts, who became a close friend of Griffith.

In 1960, “The Andy Griffith Show” debuted, and nothing Griffith did after that—and he did a lot—quite registered so perfectly in the popular mind, heart and memory. Griffith was the driving force behind the show—but it was also memorably for being so densely full of characters with a capital C, and that rhymes with Bea, that it was practically an anthropological merry-go-round of American and Southern types, a wished-for bucolic place where broken hearts go to mend. We do not know what the unemployment figures are or were for Mayberry, but it was obvious that most everybody made it to the town diner and Aunt Bea made cookies and pies to spare.

Knotts played Barney Fife the irrepressibly near-psychotic, bumbling deputy, and he wore his uniform as if it was infested by ants. At the time, Ronnie Howard played Opie, the sheriff’s son. He would become a television star in his own right with “Happy Days,” a movie star with “American Graffiti” and a Hollywood mogul as a director (he won an Oscar for “A Beautiful Mind”). Gomer Pyle got his start here as an inept mechanic, played by Jim Nabors, who played the same character in the hit television series “Gomer Pyle USMC.” The great western character actor Denver Pyle—he played the Texas Ranger who did in Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway in “Bonnie and Clyde”—was the head of the Darlings, moonshiners and bluegrassers. An actress namned Aneta Corsaut played Helen Crump, Opie’s teacher and Andy’s girlfriend. Francis Bavier was the sweet-hearted Aunt Bee who raises Opie as her own.

From 1986 to 1995, Griffith also starred in “Matlock” and acted throughout the rest of his life on television series, made-for-tv movies and movies in general. In 2005, he was awarded a Presidential Medal of Freedom, and you can bet that it’s a Mayberry medal.

Mayberry exists—like a brigadoon with a twang, with pies, with fishing poles and no power outages. It’s hard not to think it rose up again just the other day on the Fourth of July, somewhere in a place where there’s nothing but a gas station, two roads intersecting, a pond nearby and a diner where someone starts singing and the coffee is the best and not latte.

It’s hard to put a whistle into words. So we won’t.

Georgetowner • July 9, 2012

Volta Park MPD Meet & Greet

July 7th, 2012 at 09:00- 10:00 AM | Free | Tel: (202) 282-0380 | Event Website

Come by this Saturday and meet Meet Officer Atkins and strengthen ties with the community & our local MPD representatives! Join us to share strategies to improve neighborhood safety! Sponsored by : CAG’s Public Safety Program. Meet at picnic tables on the lawn and in Case of Rain, meet at the Safeway Cafe.

Address

Volta Park Recreation Center and Pool

1555 34th St NW,

Quest: Road Signs

July 7th, 2012 at 09:30 AM | Free | information@nationaltheatre.org | Tel: (202) 783-3372 | Event Website

A talented cast of deaf, hard of hearing and hearing performers celebrates deaf culture in an entertaining performance featuring a mixture of story theatre, mime, A-B-C stories, poetry and songs- all performed in American Sign Language.

Address

The National Theatre, 1321 Pennsylvania Ave., NW

Castleton Festival at the Hylton: Grand Opera in Concert: Puccini’s “La Bohème.”

July 7th, 2012 at 08:00 PM | $30, $45, $60 | hylton@gmu.edu | Tel: 888-945-2468 | Event Website

Unencumbered by sets and elaborate costuming, this spectacular concert version of Puccini’s “La Bohème” conducted by Maestro Lorin Maazel allows the audience to be mesmerized by the Castleton Festival Orchestra and singers performing the beloved music of this heartrending opera.
Address

Hylton Performing Arts Center, 10960 George Mason Circle, Manassas, VA 20110

CAPCS Online Summer Concert Series

July 11th, 2012 at 12:00 PM | free | Tel: (866) 339-9912 | Event Website

Online students don’t just hang out with their computers – they enjoy summer fun with their classmates, too. Students, families and staff from Community Academy Public Charter School Online (CAPCS Online) will be grooving to everything from funk rock to New Orleans jazz this summer during a series concerts throughout the summer. Interested families are also invited to see how the CAPCS Online community likes to have a good time and to get their questions answered by knowledgeable staff members.

Address

Woodrow Wilson Plaza
Washington, DC

NSLM Art Exhibit Chukkers: The Sport of Polo in Art

July 12th, 2012 at 10:00 AM | free | hreuter@nsl.org | Tel: 540-687-6542 | Event Website

Chukkers: The Sport of Polo in Art

July 12 – September 30, 2012

Museum Hours: Wednesday-Saturday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday noon to 4 p.m.

Chukkers: the Sport of Polo in Art, curated by the NSLM and researched by H.A. Laffaye with loans from the Museum of Polo and Hall of Fame, explores the game and its history with over fifty paintings and watercolors, twenty sculptures and medals, and a selection of antique trophies.

Address

National Sporting Library and Museum

102 The Plains Road

Middleburg, Virginia 20117

Robert Devaney •

The Georgetown Business Improvement District is looking for a new executive director. Less than three weeks after its annual upbeat meeting, the Georgetown BID unexpectedly announced the resignation of James Bracco, its executive director since 2009.

“Jim Bracco, has decided to leave the BID after an exemplary three-and-a-half years of service,” reported Georgetown BID’s board president, Crystal Sullivan in a July 3 e-mail to its members. “On behalf of the BID’s board of directors, we would like to thank Jim for his great efforts on making Georgetown a clean, safe and enticing community for our businesses to thrive and visitors to enjoy. He has been a steady presence in not only the Georgetown community but in representing our neighborhood amongst city agencies and initiatives. We greatly appreciate his time and level of service to Georgetown, and he will be missed.”

At the June 13 meeting at the House of Sweden, Bracco gave an update on projects and said he was especially proud of the clean-up crews, whose work he admired each morning when driving to work. Among other projects, he also showed images of the holiday plantings to come as well as a sketch of the holiday ornament to be dramatically suspended over the intersection of Wisconsin Avenue and M Street, much like the lighted decoration that hangs each Christmastime at Fifth Avenue and 57th Street in Manhattan.

At its big meeting in 2011, the BID launched its new website and with its re-branding effort revealed the neighborhood’s latest retail motto: “Come out and play.”

No replacement for Bracco has been announced.

The next big BID event is Georgetown’s Fashion Night Out, Sept. 6. Its tagline is “Liberty and fashion for all.”

Georgetowner • July 2, 2012

Castleton Festival at the Hylton: Gershwin and Company: An All-American Evening

June 28th, 2012 at 08:00 PM | $30, $45, $60 | hylton@gmu.edu | Tel: 888-945-2468 | Event Website

The young artists of the Castleton Festival perform “Gershwin and Company: An All-American Evening,” a musical celebration of the American spirit, under the baton of world-renowned Maestro Lorin Maazel. Pianist Kevin Cole joins the orchestra for a riveting performance of George Gershwin’s most popular work, “Rhapsody in Blue.”

Address

Hylton Performing Arts Center, 10960 George Mason Circle, Manassas, VA 20110

Smithsonian Folklife Festival

June 28th, 2012 at 11:00 AM | Free | Tel: 202-633-1000 | Event Website

Wednesdays-Sundays, June 27-July 8

The Festival is held outdoors on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., between the Smithsonian museums. Admission is free.

This year’s theme includes:

Citified: “Arts and Creativity East of the Anacostia River,” “Campus and Community” and “Creativity and Crisis.”

Address

The National Mall (Between the U.S. Capitol and the Lincoln Memorial) Washington, DC

Community Class at Down Dog Yoga

June 29th, 2012 at 04:00 PM | 6-10$ | Event Website

Every Friday, Down Dog Yoga offers a community class at a discounted rate to encourage new yogis to sweat it out. The reduced drop in rate is $10 per class or $6 for students. Register online beforehand to secure a spot!

Address

Down Dog Yoga, 1046 Potomac St NW

Georgetown Group Runs

June 30th, 2012 at 09:00 AM

Join Georgetown Running Company with a few friends a weekly weekend run. Every week, the community is welcome to join a group that leaves from the store.

Address

Georgetown Running Co., 3401 M St NW, Washington, DC

Penguin Bob Reading and Drawing

June 30th, 2012 at 09:30 AM | Free | information@nationaltheatre.org | Tel: (202) 783-3372 | Event Website

Artist, author and illustrator Joe Jamaldinian enthralls the kids with an exciting adventure featuring his children’s book character, Penguin Bob. With some help from the audience, Joe sketches a colorful story in which Bob follows his quest to teach children to pursue their dreams in a multi-cultural world of fascinating people.

Address

The National Theatre, 1321 Pennsylvania Ave., NW

Great American Festival

June 30th, 2012 at 03:00 PM | $39.00-69.00 | Tel: 877-628-5427

Ozomatli and Eve 6 are among the dozen bands and DJs taking over National Harbor’s piers, pavilion and beach area for a day-long pre-July 4 blowout. Local acts the Dance Party, See-I and Hot 99.5 DJ Chris Styles are also featured. Expect the usual mix of food vendors, beer tents and games, capped with fireworks over the Potomac River. Special VIP tickets include unlimited beer and access to a private area with acoustic sets by Ozomatli, the Dance Party and See-I.

Address

National Harbor, 150 National Plaza, Fort Washington, MD

GUATEfest

July 1st, 2012 at 08:00 AM | $10 pre event, $15 at the door, Kids under 12 are free | guatefest2012@gmail.com | Tel: 703-587-2720 | Event Website

GUATEfest is a Guatemalan Festival featuring cultural activities, music, food, crafts for kids and much more. Featuring bands- Radio Viejo, Giovanny Pinzon, Osman Broody, Sonora Concepcion, Invasores Musical, Banda FM zacapa, Tormenta Musical, Raibales and more. Come and join us to support the Latin Community on July 1st 2012. 8am-8pm. Please purchase tickets from Megamart, RIA/Bancomerico, Ticketlatino.com

Address

Gunston Middle School, 2700 South Lang Street, Arlington, VA 22206

Independence Day Ice Cream Social

July 3rd, 2012 at 01:00 PM | $5-10, Military Free | mkatz@tudorplace.org | Tel: (202) 965-0400 | Event Website

George Washington loved ice cream, and the founders of Tudor Place loved and revered their forebear George Washington. We’ll start with a special, family-friendly mansion tour focusing on its many George and Martha Washington connections. Then, make your own ice cream sundaes in the garden, and enjoy children’s games and crafts. All participants will receive a special copy of a rare, personal letter from Washington belonging to the Tudor Place archives.

Address

Tudor Place Historic House and Garden, 1644 31 Street NW