What's happening, updated every Wednesday.
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On sale now! Events in the ~ future ~ that you may want to buy tickets for before they sell out:
KINDA EVIL at Pie Shop (10/8), 5K/10K Pumpkin Pacer at Rock Creek Park (10/10), Two Door Cinema Club (10/11), community week (10/14-21), 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 September 30
This event is soooo 730DC coded
If you’re a real one (geoguessr stan) then you’ll love Localguessr: It’s part bar trivia, part geoguessr. You’ll be put in teams then shown DC areas on a map and then mark them on the map. Winning teams get prizes! (7pm)
I’ll take one of everything, please
At Western Market’s tasting, nothing costs more than $5. Featuring over a dozen vendors with everything from arepas to oyster rolls, you can sample widely without thinking too hard about it. (4pm)
Also || amazing race watch party w/ spirit players!, music improv at rhizome, journaling with crystals, this cursed beautiful land, yoga at the farm, Educator Night at East City Bookshop, workshop: metal embossing, UB40 at Strathmore, tunes in the triangle, GGW Fall Mixer, farragut fun days, local scavenger hunt, WABA on Connecticut Ave, screening and talk: Groundswell, screening: Screenlight, mystics playoffs watch party, sunset sounds at the line
Thursday October 1
Oktoberfest with a twist
This is basically a local’s starter pack: Art, music, cycling, and good beer. The Phillips Collection is keeping the party going and hosting a bike and beer celebration. Plus, Phillips Collection members pay nothing! (5pm)
What’s more gay than the public library
Head to MLK Library for a viewing of Swann Queen, a short film inspired by William Dorsey Swann – the first self-proclaimed drag queen in the United States, who lived here in DC during the late 1800s. The short stars Pussy Noir and King Molasses, and there will be performances by local artists Hennessey and Mas! (6pm)
Also || local tunes: Magic Item w/ Dr. Horsedoctor + Rain Shears, tunes: Magic Item, author event: Portrait of a Witch Undone, Phillips after 5, 50s Tiki Halloween, climate speaker series by Montgomery Planning Department, play: Hakawatis: Women of the Arabian Nights, microcinema: PERVERTS, EPI turns 40, Oh Deer: How to approach gardening with deer, karaoke and running at Hadees, Fall Back Concert series
Friday October 2
The quiet art of noticing
Poet, María Fernanda, is leading a drop-in workshop at the National Gallery of Art where the art on the walls becomes the starting point for your own writing. No experience needed, just an openness to explore your creative side. (12:30pm)
Learn about some madams (not organs)
On this nighttime historic walking tour, you’ll learn about the rise of sex work in 19th-century DC. You won’t encounter ghosts, ghouls, or zombies… just whatever “female lobbyist” used to mean. (7pm)
Also || eli winter trio at rhizome, tunes: The Tumblers, finding awe at NGA, anti-capitalist coworking club, heart of the matter, Immigration Film Fest, sculptures: Tame Joy, scored movie: the matrix, outdoor Top Gun: Maverick screening
Saturday October 3
Picnic in the park!
In honor of Rock Creek Park Day we’re celebrating with traditional Choro and Samba music! Bring a blanket, a snack, and your dancing shoes and get ready to celebrate our favorite park. (5-7pm)
Would you eat seafood in an old metrocar?
What about fresh oysters at metrobar?? Chargrilled or raw, paired with custom cocktails. Pizza is available for the seafood-skeptical among us. (12pm)
Get outside: district of punk walking tour, Harlem Renaissance in DC walking tour, craft outside at Edgewood, party in the garden, Saturdays in the Park, fall fest for falasteen
music/art/dance: sunrise dance party at Nat Geo museum, music: American Folk Music Revival, pianist Élisabeth Pion, screening: Stories and Pictures By, home rule fest
Drinks, food, and more! DC Coffee Festival, matcha tasting, Koreatown walking food tour
Other highlights: don’t just complain, make a difference! Knock doors for the midterms, join a new dc app, The Rehearsal for change: up your public testimony, Swap Palooza, city within a city, MUNDIAL: Culturas Sin Fronteras, curiosity club, Trashcan Cinema, fall vintage market, boulderfest
Sunday October 4
Have a field day
Someone at Comedy Band Camp looked at a big empty field in Anacostia Park and thought, “What this needs is a Josh Johnson look-alike contest.” There will also be games, races, local music, and free shuttle from the Anacostia Metro Station to get you there. (12pm)
Calling all coffee evangelists
DC Coffee Festival is back at Union Market with a room full of the area's top roasters pouring at once. You can taste your way through until “fruity notes” finally starts to mean something. (9am-4:30pm)
Also || author talk: Audrey Goldberg-Ruoff, DC fall classic 5K & Half, screening: While We Are Here, Killick Hinds at Rhizome, finding awe at NGA, Secret Door Museum, tunes: ÊXSZA, whose line is it anyway tour, words from birds, mt pleasant walking whiskey tour, world sake day in dc, daytime burlesque, acoustic show at rhizome, book sale!!!!, tea-making workshop, georgetown spy history, umpakan at metrobar
Monday October 5
Mwahahahahhahaahahahaaaaaaa
It’s time to show off your evil laugh! Stop by the Capitol View Library (or submit online) your 10 second evil laugh. Laughlications open until Friday. (all day)
It’s time to use up that yarn
It’s getting colder and everybody in your life wants a beautiful, handknit sweater. Or maybe they’ll get a scarf. Or a potholder. Drink free tea and consider the possibilities. BYOM (bring your own mug)! (6:30pm)
Also || john grisham at 6th & I, 2026 chef series, chess club, break up with big tech, EXPO Magazine (service worker magazine) launch party, book talk: Not Today, Fascists
Tuesday October 6
Actually maybe Edward could have been more “othered” for dating a 17 year old when he was over 100!
Since its beginnings, vampirism in culture has represented few things more than “otherness,” and that’s what Stanley Joseph Stepanic wants to talk about at Profs and Pints. From Dracula (and for real ones, Carmilla) to “Sinners” to “Blacula,” he’ll walk through vampires in media and help you appreciate what they represent! (6pm)
Set your Slack status to “be back presto”
A Wind Quintet from the Berliner Philharmonkier is playing the National Gallery at lunchtime. The orchestra is known as one of the best (if not THE best) in the world, and you can see these celebrated musicians for free! (12pm)
Also || community conversations with the teachers union, yoga in the square, lunch time concert at NGA, yoga at farragut sq, Calling home, Across Geographies & Generations, author talk: NYT tech journalist talks AI, Spanish club for socialists, knitting circle, trivia at No Kisses
OCTOBER
10/7: michael douglas at 6th & I, crafting the monochrome, dress for success DC, book talk: A Pinch of Magic, lunch at farragut sq, bartending takeover fundraiser
10/8: cookbook talk at 6th&I, Coco Smith at Rhizome, art: Change Ringing, KINDA EVIL at Pie Shop, a night on the farm, turn hard into humor, tunes: El Colmo at Comet Ping Pong, talk on Black women and Shakespeare, fall back concert series, The 51st’s 2nd bday + print issue release
10/9: local tunes: Eliza Tebo w/ Integriti Reeves + Melanie McDowell, anti-capitalist coworking club, local noise at rhizome, author talk: find me where it ends, local tunes: emotional world, Michael Kosta at Howard Theatre, tween bike ride, from here(ish) comedy
10/10: Chelsea Wolfe at 6th&I, Afterglow: Stories that linger, hip hop: EPIK HIGH, screening: Primary, Painting in the Kreeger Sculpture Garden, afterglow: stories that linger, crazy rich washington, tour leading to the War of 1812, rhizome writers retreat, 5K/10K Pumpkin Pacer at Rock Creek Park, risograph workshop, petworth food tour, forget why poetry, family day at house of sweden, Latinx Movement Festival, benefit show for immigrants at Galactic Panther, dc witchfest, plot twist: the villain is straight
10/11: moony w Wall Carpets, screening: If You Lived Here You Would Be Home Now, Raul Midón at Strathmore, washington's spookiest days, jack-o-lantern workshop
10/12: the italian job, tunes at rhizome, profs & pints: Witches of Antiquity, oedipus in seattle (in dc)
10/13: grief quiltmaking, tunes at rhizome, author talk: The Gilded Rose, profs & pints: Horror in the East, author talk: Rachel Kitch
10/14: tunes at rhizome, hair workshop for girldads, violinist Itzhak Perlman, singer-songwriter Taisha Estrada, podcast launch: loving abroad, community week (through 10/21), Man or Astro-Man with Light Beams
10/15: comedy at Sixth & I, local tunes: Boat Burning, virtual creative writing workshop, poiseis quartet, circus: gravity & other myths, book talk: Back Where We Started, what is happening w/ political art, art: out of bounds, comedy picnic, author talk: Home for the Homicides, library writing group
10/16: parks line dancing, Black Women and Shakespeare, finding awe at NGA, anti-capitalist coworking club, 10 years of building solidarity, young professionals night at the folk-punk musical, Peabody’s American Music Festival, the wedding funeral, open mic at theatre lab
10/17: local hip-hop: DFG Ju w/ Tolento Jones, screening: Maysles Films Inc., Tregaron Unplugged, textiles 101, rhythmic tales at rhizome, crochet 101, cluelesque: musical muder mystery burlesque, To Hear Her Speak: Black Women and Shakespeare, chevy chase art walk, bff ben franklin, yoga @ the sculpture garden, virginialicious walking food tour, jazz at kreeger, family day at kingman island, spooky town books
10/18: Simone Dinnerstein at WPA, Ruth Bader Ginsburg Memorial Recital, jazz piano: Chucho Valdés, Wu Fei at Strathmore, dc bald meet up, maria grand quartet, study hall at rhizome, tea drying and blending workshop, the macabre poe, pierce mill grain fair
10/19: recording This Day at Howard Theatre, UMD at Rhizome, medieval monsters
10/20: cocktails for a cause, O.B. Hardison Reading with Cornelius Eady, revisioning internal rhetoric, jason calhoun at rhizome, the room where it happened, inner loop monthly reading, untrue blue
10/21: Raphael Rogiński at Rhizome, author talk: Jenifer Shoop
10/22: local tunes: Theron William, midnight tea at strathmore (night 1), subjective map making, tunes at rhizome, Visual Feast artist talk, DC Palestinian Film and Arts Festival, library writing group
10/23: beatbox battle, give a shuck, anti-capitalist coworking club, midnight tea at strathmore (night 2), basement cabaret, trivia on the farm
10/24: tunes at rhizome, book talk: art & water, linocut workshop, Niladri Kumaar at WPA, eye on the prize at NGA, mindfulness and sketching in the garden, Sphinx Virtosi & J'Nai Bridges, walking tour of penn quarter, slut slam dc, halloween bike ride, outdoor screening: Hocus Pocus, walking korean food tour, coven: halloween dance party,
10/25: parks flea market, screening toni cade bamabra school of organizing, walking tour of walter reed, pottery sale at eastern market, choral arts performs caroline shaw, a guide to witches, unshushed film fest, grow ur own mushrooms
10/26: alton brown at strathmore, profs & pints: the haunted house
10/27: profs & pints: Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy, humanities lab: to hear her speak
10/28: Silas House at East City, tunes at rhizome, women in power & poetry
10/29: afro-cuban all stars at strathmore, The Renaissance of U, book launch: Stubborn Roots, library writing group
10/30: anti-capitalist coworking club, night of the living SHRED, Batik Showcase at GWU
10/31: screening: Titicut Follies and A Couple, halloween showcase: fight night live, screening with orchestra: coco, meditation in the galleries, tour of rock creek cemetery
NOVEMBER
11/1: Mary in Ecstasy at NGA, maryna krut at strathmore, screening with orchestra: coco, dmv-based noise, local tunes: restives
11/2: tunes: Frank Maza
11/3: benefit show: The Dream Eaters
11/4: sound at rhizome, alex edelman at strathmore
11/5: Tapestry Vocal Ensemble at Strathmore, alex edelman at strathmore, the witness tree, the crooked witness, tunes at pocket: dusty rug
11/6: OFFSITE duo at rhizome, finding awe at NGA, the freelance table
11/7: nervous verbs, local tunes: Boilersuit
11/8: finding awe at NGA, making art through grief, las micas at strathmore
11/9: Rick Steves at Sixth & I, book talk: spy school
11/10: Julia Jacklin, american ballet theatre, earth's greatest enemy, new orthodox at rhizome
11/12: makers holiday market
11/13: finding awe at NGA, comedy: love isn't blind, makers market, indie showcase: 4la7la
11/14: Red Brick Weekend, comedy for a cause, finding awe at NGA, Ellington Carthan at Strathmore
11/15: monet: life in letters, finding awe at NGA, old saw at rhizome
11/16: women writers anthology reading
11/17: tunes: big head todd and the monsters
11/18: tunes: frances of delirium, local architecture, assemblage poetrics
11/19: virtual creative writing workshop, Amarilis Dueñas Castán at Kreeger
11/20: tunes at rhizome, winter wonderland at nats park
11/21: try writing a song, metal showcase at the pocket, tunes at strathmore
11/22: Germán López at Strathmore
11/23: latin dance competition
11/28: echoes of doubt at rhizome, tunes: Emmett & the Dead Ends
11/29: parks flea market
DECEMBER
12/1: celtic christmas carols
12/3: voctave a cappella christmas carols
12/4: HUMP! Film Festival, finding awe at NGA
12/5: HUMP! Film Festival, pas musique at rhizome, leslie odom jr at strathmore, local tunes: Bitter Stems
12/8: hbd emily dickinson
12/9: sneak peak at folger's english christmas, jazz: Dave Koz
12/10: Andrew Yee and the Rothko String Quartet
12/11: English Christmas for the Ages, tunes at rhizome
12/12: finding awe at NGA, christmas carols, local tunes at strathmore, christmas with the camerata
12/13: Christmas with the Camerata (2/2)
12/17: virtual creative writing workshop
12/18: christmas jazz orchestra, local tunes: ammonite
12/19: tunes: ADRENALINE!
JANUARY 2027
1/24: dakhabrakha quartet from kyiv
1/26: music and poetry: a hard rain
FEBRUARY 2027
2/23: praise song for the body
MARCH 2027
3/2: hamlet at folger
3/4: access as revision
MAY 2027
5/18: comedy of errors at folger
