30 Things to Do in the DC Area This Week and Weekend

Happy Monday, DC!

WorldPride DC finally arrives with a bustling schedule of festivals, fairs, and dance parties to celebrate LGBTQ+ communities and culture. Plus, Preakness 150 returns to Baltimore featuring big horse races and a Wyclef Jean concert.

Best Things to Do This Week and Weekend

May 12–May 18

1. 1. WorldPride DC. Over the years, WorldPride DC has been hosted in major international capitals such as Rome and Sydney. This year, the LGBTQ+ celebration is finally happening here–the same year as the 50th anniversary of DC’s own Pride celebration. Check out a growing list of parades, street festivals, late-night parties, and concerts happening over the next several weeks (Sat through June 8, prices vary, various participating locations).
   2. Preakness 150. Dress in your best derby attire for the 150th Preakness weekend. Cheer on your favorite racer, and enjoy a weekend full of entertainment including guided tours of the Pimlico Race Course, as well as the first-ever live trackside concert featuring headliner Wyclef Jean, and a closing set with singer  T-Pain (Fri-Sat, $97+ for single day tickets, Baltimore).
   3. Fiesta Asia Street Fair. The Passport DC festivities continue this weekend with Fiesta Asia. The celebration of pan-Asian heritage will include over 1,000 performers, food vendors, and artisans, plus kid-friendly activities, karaoke contests, a sushi cook-off,  street dancing, and a colorful parade. The fair has been a popular tribute to Asian culture since 2006 (Sat, free, Downtown).
   4. We Are Gathered play. Oscar-winning screenwriter Tarell Alvin McCraney wrote romantic comedy We Are Gathered— a contemporary rendition of Shakespearean wedding plays. You can see the new production at Arena Stage (Fri through June 15, $70+, Southwest DC).
   5. Lucketts Spring Vintage Market. Northern Virginia’s Lucketts Spring Market is a seasonal favorite showcasing hundreds of  vintage vendors. Shop chic garden gems, painted furniture, architectural salvage, rustic antiques, and other stylish finds at this outdoor, three-day market. Visitors can expect live music, a beer garden, and food trucks. For a less crowded visit, the early-buyer option is a morning pass to shop before general admission ticket-holders join the fun on May 16 (Fri-Sun, $20 general admission, $50 for early-buyer weekend pass, Berryville).
   6. “Essex Hemphill” exhibit at the Phillips Collection. DC’s pioneering poet and activist Essex Hemphill played a major role in Washington’s art scene in the ’80s and ’90s. The Phillips Collection’s exhibit connects Hemphill’s writings with the work of artists who knew him, and were inspired by his legacy (Sat through August 31, $20, Dupont Circle).

Want More Things to Do?

Arts and culture:

• Bestselling authors Martin Reeves and Tom Friedman visit Planet Word to chat about the evolution of the Like button (Mon, $10, Downtown).
• Sing karaoke on your lunch break (Tues, free, MLK Library).
• Justice Stephen Breyer celebrates the paperback release of his book Reading the Constitution at Sixth & I (Tues, $25+ for in-person, $12+ for virtual, Downtown).
• Watch Pol Pot Dancing—a documentary on the history of classical Cambodian dance—at the Smithsonian (Fri, free, registration encouraged, Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art).
• Create clay magnet doughnuts with local maker Neha Nigam from The Clay Art Boutique (Fri, $45, Dupont Circle).
• Author Nicole Wong discusses her new book Mahjong: House Rules from Across the Asian Diaspora at the museum. After the talk, guests can participate in mahjong gameplay and eat snacks (Sun, free, registration encouraged, Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art).

Community and heritage:

• Play games, eat BBQ, feed ducks, and listen to Crush Funk Brass Band at Duck Pond Party (Sat, free, Southwest DC).
• Shop artisans and vendors, enjoy live music, and participate in kid-friendly activities at Bloomingdale Community Day (Sat, free, Bloomingdale).
• Asian Festival on Main is an outdoor party packed with over 60 food options, dozens of performances, a cosplay costume contest, karaoke, and a beer garden (Sun, free, Fairfax).

Theater and shows:

• Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night comedy gets a playful remix at Folger Theatre (Tues through June 22, $20+, Capitol Hill).
• Get tickets to an evening of live storytelling with performances by Generation Women DC (Wed, $35, Bloomingdale).
• Catch a free modern dance performance by DC’s Dana Tai Soon Burgess Dance Company at Woolly Mammoth Theatre (Sat, free, Penn Quarter).

Music and concerts:

• Pianist Tomáš Kačo plays Czech music at Phillips Collection (Tues, $30, Dupont Circle).
• Spoken word hip-hop legends The Last Poets commemorate the 100th birthday of civil rights activist Malcolm X (Wed, $35+, Shaw).
• Indie-rock guitarist and songwriter MJ Lenderman performs two sold-out shows at the 9:30 Club; tickets available from third-party sellers (Thurs-Fri, $81+,  Shaw).
• Local band Rock Creek Kings fuse rock, blues, and pop rhythms on stage at Black Cat (Fri, $20+, Shaw).
• Swamp Dogg headlines Lincoln Cottage’s Bourbon and Bluegrass music festival (Sat-Sun, $50+ for adults, $35+ for children ages 7-20, free for children ages 6 and younger, Northwest DC).
• Wear your dancing shoes to Arlington Palooza. Six live acts will perform (Sat, free, Arlington).

Plan ahead:

• The highly-anticipated return of Jazz in the Garden arrives next week at the Sculpture Garden (May 23, free, required lottery registration opens Mon-Fri, National Gallery of Art).
• NMWA Nights—a crowd favorite after-hours event—hosts another monthly art gathering with music and drinks (May 21, $25, Downtown).

Bites and beverages:

• Taste unlimited samples of wines from Virginia wineries while overlooking the Potomac River at Spring Wine Festival (Fri-Sun, $50+, Mount Vernon).
• Drink lagers from ten breweries at Frühlingsfest while listening to tunes by DJ Billy Crystal Fingers (Sat, $32, Alexandria).

Things to do with kids:

• Jump through a gigantic bounce house this weekend with your family. The play place includes slides, music, and sports games for all ages (Sat-Sun, May 24-25, $40+ for adults, $30+ for ages 4-15, free for children 3 and younger, Fort Washington).
• Kiddos can pick strawberries, and take a tractor ride at the Lincoln Strawberry Festival (Fri-Sun, $15, Hamilton).

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Briana Thomas

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.