Happy Tuesday, everyone!
Welcome back from the long weekend. This week you can party outdoors at Quarterfest Crawl, or spend quality playtime with your dog at Paws on the Plaza.
Best Things to Do This Week
- Annapolis Pride Parade and Festival. Start Pride Month at the Annapolis Pride Parade and Festival. The all-day affair welcomes spectators to a lively street parade with floats, marchers, and tunes followed by a family-friendly music festival. This year’s headliner is viral pop artist Whatever Mike (Sat, free, Annapolis).
- Quarterfest Crawl. The Ballston Quarter neighborhood is the stage at Quarterfest Crawl featuring a live DJ, performances by local musicians including David Thong and Rook Richards, and activities for kids. Also, guests can sample bites and beverages from more that 25 participating restaurants (Sat, free, Arlington).
- Paws on the Plaza. Bring your four-legged companions to Tysons Corner Center for Paws on the Plaza. Pups can play outdoors at the dog park and pounce on splash pads, while humans shop pet goods from vendors and enjoy sips at the beer garden; there’s a pet photo booth and caricatures, too (Sat, free, Tysons).
- Capital Pride Honors. The Capital Pride Alliance’s lineup of month-long celebrations kicks off this week at Penn Social with the annual Capital Pride Honors awards night. Attendees can enjoy hors d’oeuvres, drinks, dancing, and games as the community comes together to honor individuals who support and advocate for the LGBTQ+ community (Fri, $25+, Penn Quarter).
- Paramore in concert. Lead singer Hayley Williams arrives in DC with her Paramore bandmates to promote their latest album, This Is Why. After a decade-long hiatus and approaching 20 years of rocking the music scene, this concert will be a must-see (Fri, $136+, Capital One Arena).
Want More Things to Do?
Budget-friendly. Disney fans will love Mickey Mouse-themed trivia at Atlas Brew Works (Thurs, free, Ivy City).
Arts and culture. View Chilean multimedia artist Magdalena Correa’s exhibit at the Art Museum of the Americas about the Suiti community (closes Sun, free, Northwest DC). Experience an Art Walk Wine Tasting (Fri, free for gallery, $25+ for tasting, Arlington). The new exhibition “Edges of What I Feel” at Mason Exhibitions Arlington explores mental health issues (opens Fri, free, Arlington). Journal for wellness at the Heurich House Museum (Sat, $15+, Dupont). Tune your ears to multi-sensory sounds at the Sound Scene festival (Sat-Sun, free, Smithsonian Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden). Observe the changing perceptions of male beauty in “Gaze Upon Gays” (closes June 25, free, Adams Morgan). Artists of color perform spoken word and poetry at Metrobar (Wed, free, Northeast DC).
Theater and shows. Dissonance, a play about friendship and prejudice, opens at Anacostia Arts Center (Tues through June 11, $34+, Anacostia). Dance soloist Gabriel Mata and choreographer Madeline Maxine Gorman team up at Atlas Arts Lab (Sun, $25, H Street Corridor). Take a drumming and master dance class and see live performances at the DanceAfrica DC festival (Fri-Sun, prices vary, various locations). Catch the opening shows of Incendiary at Woolly Mammoth Theatre (closes June 25, $29+, Northwest DC).
Music and concerts. Pop-soul vocalist Emily King makes a tour stop in DC (Tues, $35, Howard Theatre). Rapper Big Boi performs at the Bullpen (Thurs, $35+, Navy Yard). Christopher Prince sings Songs of Resistance and Recognition (Sat, $25, H Street Corridor). Celebrate the arts with food and music at the DC Strings Workshop gala (Sat, $100+, Northwest DC). The National Philharmonic closes their season with Hailstork’s Symphony No. 5 and choral work Carmina Burana (Sun, $19+, Bethesda). Children of the Gospel Choir speak on social justice at Montgomery College Cultural Arts Center (Fri, $35, Silver Spring). Local artists pay homage to go-go and jazz in Chuck and Eva: The Great American Songbook (Thurs-Fri, $40+, U Street). Local soul and funk artist Jarreau Williams kicks off the Rock the Dock concert series (Wed, free, Wharf). DC band Brain Tourniquet launches their tour at Songbyrd (Wed, $15+, Northeast DC). Don’t miss the final performance of the National Symphony Orchestra’s Beethoven & American Masters (Thurs-Sat, $15+, Kennedy Center).
Things to do with kids. Have a movie night under the stars with your kids at Cabin John Village; the film pick is Moana (Fri, free, Potomac). All ages are welcome to participate in storytime, art making, and face painting at National Gallery of Art (Sat, free, National Gallery of Art). See the new Little Mermaid movie, and enjoy games and crafts before the show at Alamo Drafthouse Cinema (Sun, $15, Crystal City).
Get involved. Walk Overnight with community members to help raise funds for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (Sat, donations welcome, virtual, Lincoln Memorial).
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.
