What's happening, updated every Wednesday.
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See this in a more scannable Google doc.
On sale now! Events in the ~ future ~ that you may want to buy tickets for before they sell out:
lost city books September book clubs and future book clubs at the library, Kehlani (8/27), protect Hains Point and East Potomac Park (8/29), Robyn, night 2 (9/9), Thee Sacred Souls (9/17), Taylor Tomlinson at 6th&I (9/23), all things go (9/25-9/27), Charli XCX (9/28), Two Door Cinema Club (10/11), tunes: Rebecca Black (10/15), JPEGMAFIA (10/21), Beck (10/25), Dana and Alden (10/29), Slow Pulp (11/9), Julia Jacklin (11/10)
Wednesday August 19
Swim & support abortion access!
It’s a DCAF summer. Swim with your friends, grab some drinks and snacks, and support safe access to abortion in the district. (5:30pm)
Black history, gentrification, and art
Local artist Marilyn Gates-Davis paints DC neighborhoods and their residents, past and present. Join her for a dialogue about gentrification, the city’s history, and future. (6pm)
Also || Wharf movie night: F1, farmer’s market at common good city farm, yoga at the national arboretum, tunes at pocket, cookbook club (join waitlist!), Observatory DC, camp create! Free family makers night, community craft night at Living Room, cozy mystery book club, horror book club: I Know A Place, Grief in Action, local tunes: carrier wave solvent, documentary on ditching politicians
Thursday August 20
Chew very, veerrrrrry slowly
While you savor the local cheese and beer from Slow Food DC. Or eat them very quickly if they’re good. (7pm)
Happy early birthday, Chuck Brown!
Celebrate the DC legend’s 90th with an outdoor concert from the Concord Historic Site and the Go-Go Museum. Dance to sets from New Impressions and Next Generation Krank. (5pm)
Also || local tunes: Analog Hour, book talk: War Boys, soundscape at phillips collection, camp create! Free family makers night, infinite worlds book club, book talk: Don't Fight Back, comedy in takoma, go-go on the green, grooves in the grove, salsa social
Friday August 21
Don’t just show up in a sack
Heading to Ren Faire? Level up your garb with a crafting night at Merry Pin. Make flower crowns, corsets, leather pieces, and more!
Do ecstasy with a renaissance woman?
An interactive discussion about this painting by Artemisia Gentileschi, one of the most notable woman painters of the 1600s. Her version of Mary Magdalene looks pretty happy. (1pm)
Also || tunes at rhizome, young professionals night at Gruesome Playground Injuries, comedy in arlington, comedy: Matt Ruby, anti-capitalist coworking club, friday night fishing, french haters and lovers unite, standup in arlington, open mic for theater kids at heart, funnier version of the moth, hyperpop night at icon, national cathedral tower climb
Saturday August 22
Not so Grand Prix
While Trump’s friends show how cool they are driving cars around our streets (and hopefully getting speeding tickets from the watergate speed cam)... you can go to the Not So Grand Prix at Gallery O, featuring toy car racing, a lego car building competition, retro car games, and more. (5pm)
Can I kick it?
Yes, you can! See the cult classic “New Jack City” (where this meme came from) on the mall while the film is scored live with a blend of Hip-Hop, Soul, Rock and more mixed by DJ 2-Tone Jones. Outside, free, and fun! (7pm)
Also || jazz in the parks, Summer Abundance Forest Bathing at the National Arboretum, guided meditation at Kreeger, crab at pocket, Mt Plantry, Friday the 13th!, exhibit opening: OUT OF CHAOS, tunes: Masego, comedy in bethesda, community yard sale in columbia heights, funny people in bethesda, craft and clothing swap at rhizome, bind a book!, puppet theater, crafting cafe grand opening, phone-less game night,
Sunday August 23
Bee there or bee square
It’s Pollinator Fest in Mount Pleasant – featuring live music, honeybee demos, games, facepainting and more. This festival for all ages celebrates our neighbors that make our food grow and flowers bloom. (11am-3pm)
Fungi curious?
Edgewood Community Farm is hosting a mushroom workshop where you can learn how to rig a simple system and grow your own fungi year-round. It’s hands-on and beginner-friendly – plus, your entry goes straight back to the farm. (5:30pm - 7:30pm)
Also || local tunes: DKMTR, encountering cryptids, DC Modular Meetup, legacy of Aaliyah, explore the fabrication lab at MLK library, café comedy, beach party bingo
Monday August 24
This guy was handy with a camera
Art Shay took photos of celebrities, icons, and everyday American life for plenty of magazines, and then his fame somehow didn’t escape Chicago. Now in DC, we can catch a sneak preview of a new documentary on his life, his work, plus a director Q&A, and a signed print auction. (6pm-8pm)
Does Rhizome still feel like a real word?
Watch a documentary about local musicians improvising a show at Rhizome alongside some local musicians inside Rhizome, then watch those musicians improvise at Rhizome. (7pm)
Also || gay agenda book club, new fiction bookclub: Kin, local trivia gameshow, last day for the building museum playground, side quest with a library card
Tuesday August 25
Scares after dark
Horror movie trivia takes over the Highbinder Bar at Alamo Drafthouse, themed to the new Insidious release. Round up your biggest film bros and see if your horror knowledge holds up. (7pm-8:30pm)
Sins right after
Keep the spooky vibes going at Sinners and Saints where comedians from the DMV and beyond will take the stage for stand-up. Support live comedy, where silence is the real horror. (8pm-10pm)
Also || Annie Lowrey at 6th & I, becoming a better ally, queer linedancing, High Holidays Cheat Code, fiber arts meet-up, sci fi book club, Grief in Action, indie rock at rhizome, film class in arlington, Jack Harlow, flash brew how-to
AUGUST
8/26: Wharf movie night: Project Hail Mary, farmer’s market at common good city farm, comedy: Honey, Drop It at DCAC, phone-free experience, book club: Secret Life of Groceries, Pitch-A-Friend, phone free: here & now
8/27: own your experience, tunes at rhizome, journal show and tell, Capitol Hill tree tour, hot book of the month: Country People, Knits & Yarns, cleveland park night market, roller rink at cobb park
8/28: tunes at pocket, BYOB trivia, author talk: John Manuel Arias, anti-capitalist coworking club, camp yards, space fire truth, mario movie at cobb park
8/29: freelance sweatpants at pocket, disco in the district, graftings at rhizome, back 2 school boro bash, Smut Slam DC, back to school bike ride, surviving the woodchipper, book talk: The Harrow Home for Wayward Girls, Central Table, comedy in dupont, camp yards, protect Hains Point and East Potomac Park, Flashband Warped Tour Showcase, 40K+ piece puzzle!!!, carnival at cobb park
8/30: honey harvest festival, parks flea market, home is where the bat is, Survivor DC, local tunes: Go on Red + Ranchos w/ Hungry Bug + Apricity, trans writing workshop, collaging grief, comics book club, crying in DC, tiniest lemon bread
8/31: sour tooth at rhizome, paint n sip
SEPTEMBER
9/1: Grief in Action, Profs & Pints on Yemen, JLG listening session, la petite swap
9/2: Wharf movie night: When Harry Met Sally & First Wives Club, farmer’s market at common good city farm, tunes at rhizome, Jewish Page Turners
9/3: sarah longwell at 6th&I, Phillips (Collection) After Five, comedy in takoma, Phillips after 5, storytelling in DC, a night of moving images
9/4: local tunes: threeeyedmouse w/ threethirtytwo + SIR E.U + Kilian Fonlon, the look of amber, art: the look of amber, jazz at rhizome
9/5: youth in government at pocket, dinos in b-more, clothing swap in dupont, LARP at Rhizome
9/6: indigo & shibori 101, friday night fishing, Ladybird w/ Dylan Rockwell + Little Lungs, birding in rock creek
9/7: Shivfest at Rhizome, secret door museum
9/8: live taping of sources and methods, give it a chai, how to feel worthy
9/9: author talk: R.F. Kuang, punk at pocket, looney tunes rediscovered, local tunes: prometheu$
9/10: somewhere over the border, somewhere over the border, script to spotlight, Fresh Produce's open mic for producers
9/11: Camp Merry, tunes at pocket, beyond belief at 6th & I
9/12: book of stories, DMV girls hockey weekend, Rosh Hashanah lunch, New Synagogue Project for the High Holidays, tunes at the hamilton, Bethesda Row Arts Festival, lunch at 6th & I, high holidays at 6th & I, Bethesda Row Arts Festival
9/13: steph phest 2026, community bike ride, Bethesda Row Arts Festival, victory bike ride
9/17: book talk: Kristin Hannah, soundscape at phillips collection, Teshuva workshop, tunes at rhizome, honest to goodness, tunes: Visit Neptune
9/18: caribbean happy hour, PARK(ing) Day, Mt. Joy, anti-rat webinar, the art of looking, art talk: Marguerite Gerard
9/19: hope journey walk for autoimmune association, local tunes: muddlehead
9/20: oktoberfest community sing, beyond belief
9/21: the critical musician, Havdalah and Break Fast
9/22: Psalmayene 24 at Folger Theatre, grief in process
9/23: Taylor Tomlinson at 6th&I
9/24: tunes at rhizome, local tunes: Annie Stirling
9/25: comedy: Body Language
9/26: jazz in the parks, tunes at pocket, anti-rat webinar, dance and post-performance discussion at Kreeger, "Firebird" at Theatre of Harlem
9/27: parks flea market, tunes at pocket, family square dance
9/28: Charli XCX
9/30: music improv at rhizome, journaling with crystals, this cursed beautiful land
OCTOBER
10/1: local tunes: Magic Item w/ Dr. Horsedoctor + Rain Shears
10/2: eli winter trio at rhizome
10/3: pianist Élisabeth Pion
10/4: author talk: Audrey Goldberg-Ruoff
10/8: cookbook talk at 6th&I
10/9: local tunes: Eliza Tebo w/ Integriti Reeves + Melanie McDowell
10/10: Chelsea Wolfe at 6th&I, Afterglow: Stories that linger
10/11: moony w Wall Carpets
10/12: the italian job, tunes at rhizome
10/13: grief quiltmaking
10/14: tunes at rhizome, hair workshop for girldads
10/15: comedy at Sixth & I
10/16: parks line dancing, Black Women and Shakespeare
10/20: cocktails for a cause, O.B. Hardison Reading with Cornelius Eady, revisioning internal rhetoric
10/23: beatbox battle, give a shuck
10/24: tunes at rhizome
10/25: parks flea market
NOVEMBER
11/4: sound at rhizome
11/6: OFFSITE duo at rhizome
11/9: Rick Steves at Sixth & I
11/10: Julia Jacklin
11/13: love isn't blind
11/14: Red Brick Weekend, comedy for a cause
11/28: echoes of doubt at rhizome
11/29: parks flea market
DECEMBER
12/8: hbd emily dickinson
12/9: sneak peak at folger's english christmas
12/11: English Christmas for the Ages
MARCH 2027
3/2: hamlet at folger
