Spring is here! Celebrate the city's favorite season by dancing with DMV-based DJs, taking a culinary trip to Eatonville, and exploring LGBTQ+ identity through African art.
Every Thursday, we share weekend events happening around the city. Are you planning an event you’d like us to consider for this roundup? Send it to our team at 51st.news/submit-events.
Find even more events in our Civics Roundup, which focuses on ways to get more involved locally.
This is a season of simultaneous endings and beginnings. The holy month of Ramadan is coming to an end, and the three-day Eid al-Fitr begins with the sighting of the new moon. Old Man Winter is headed out, as is the snowcrete he brought to our streets, with Friday, March 20,marking the official start of spring. Celebrate these transitions with sets from cool DMV-based DJs, a culinary trip to Eatonville, and a chance to explore LGBTQ+ identity through African art.
THURSDAY, MARCH 19
Book Talk: All the World Can Hold, Jung Yun 📍 Politics and Prose (5015 Connecticut Ave. NW) ⏰ 7 p.m. 💸 FREE (seating is first come, first served) All the World Can Hold is a new novel by Korean American writer Jung Yun set on a cruise ship in the days after 9/11. Described as Let the Great World Spin meets The White Lotus, the novel explores how we balance our needs, wants, and regrets — and the chances we’ll take to set things right. In conversation with local novelist Lauren Francis-Sharma, Yun will discuss the process of writing the book and its overlap with the current moment.
Fireside Chat: Nkechi Taifa in Conversation with Dr. Greg Carr 📍 Busboys and Poets (2021 14th St. NW) ⏰ 6:30 p.m. 💸 FREE (seating is first come, first served) To celebrate the 6th anniversary of Nkechi Taifa’s powerful memoir Black Power, Black Lawyer, the author and advocate will be in conversation at Busboys and Poets with Dr. Greg Carr. Expect candid stories and real-world insights from two powerful voices in history, justice, and culture.
Wild Days becomes a dance floor Friday night with DJ K-Meta. (Courtesy of Tauheed Rahim II)
FRIDAY, MARCH 20
FDO Spring '26: The Midnight Luau 📍 MK Lounge DC (913 U St. NW) ⏰ 10 p.m. - 3 a.m. 💸 FREE with RSVP Sick of the cold? Celebrate the first day of spring at an island-themed party featuring $8 margaritas — and a best-dressed competition with a $100 cash prize. Experienced local DJ Bri Mafia teams up with DJ S71 TeeJay to keep the energy up as you kick the winter to the curb.
20th Annual Blacks in Wax 📍 THEARC (1901 Mississippi Ave. SE) ⏰ 5 - 8:30 p.m. 💸 FREE Celebrate 20 years of history, culture, and community at THEARC in Southeast as scholars honor the people who helped shape D.C.’s legacy. Through a living museum and an onstage performance, attendees will be immersed in the lived experience of District legends like Chuck Brown, Marvin Gaye, Taraji P. Henson, Wale, and more.
Pop the Balloon or Find Love DC: LGBTQ+ Edition 📍 Seta Oasis (3813 Georgia Ave. NW) ⏰ 6 - 10 p.m. 💸 $25+ The dating show Pop the Balloon or Find Love has been an online phenomenon. At this event, the DMV gets to experience the social experiment: Come out to cheer on eligible LGBTQ+ singles as they meet, interact, and decide in real time if there’s a spark.
Wild Days with DJ K-Meta 📍Wild Days Rooftop (1201 K St. NW) ⏰ 9 p.m. - 12 a.m. 💸 FREE The Eaton Hotel’s Wild Days is, this writer thinks, one of D.C.’s best rooftop bars and dance floors. This Friday night, enjoy the venue’s aesthetic vibes while Morgan State University grad DJ K-Meta curates the sounds. Pro tip: Before you head up, pop into ground-floor cocktail bar Allegory to order a drink from Kapri Robinson, voted D.C.’s best bartender in 2024.
DC Standup Comedy Showcase 📍 Karma Hookah Bar (2409 18th St. NW) ⏰ 8 - 10 p.m. 💸 $7-9 If you ask us, Adams Morgan is D.C.’s unofficial underground comedy capital. End the week with promoter Kevin Logan, who’s hosting a local comedy showcase at the spacious and vibey Karma Hookah Bar. Practice taking puffs between laughs as you enjoy sets from ten of D.C.’s brightest and funniest.
DJ Xsa is spinning at La Cosecha on Saturday. (Courtesy of Tauheed Rahim II)
SATURDAY, MARCH 21
Miró and the United States 📍 The Phillips Collection (1600 21st St. NW) ⏰ 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. 💸 FREE for members and young people, $20 for adults 18+ Emerging from a repressive, austere post-WWII Spain, visual artist Joan Miró made his way to New York City, chasing relative creative freedom. A new exhibition of more than 75 works at the Phillips makes a grand effort to contextualize this moment in the artist’s story, documenting his influence on American contemporaries like Jason Pollock, Norman Lewis, and Helen Frankenthaler. If you can’t make it this weekend, plan ahead for the Phillips After 5 event on April 2!
R&B Yoga + Mini Soundbath with Tara Aura 📍 Arlo Washington DC (333 G St. NW) ⏰ 11 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. 💸 $39.19 R&B, yoga, sound bath … rooftop view? Sounds like a retreat that costs thousands of dollars — but instead it’s a culture-forward wellness event hosted by local artist and healer Tara Aura, who has been choosing a single musical artist to center in each of her recent curated yoga classes.
A Chess Party 📍 Shanklin Hall (2325 18th St. NW) ⏰ 5 - 7 p.m. 💸 FREE Chess has taken Millennials and Gen-Z by storm. From binge watching Netflix’s Queen’s Gambit to intently being hunched over playing chess on a smart phone, many people are finding a love for this ancient strategy game. Shanklin Hall is offering an opportunity to step away from the 2D-screen chess and play on-board chess with real people, in real time. The event is open to all levels so even if your Elo has dropped 100+ points from being tilted on chess dot com, come on out and shake it off and hang a good time. Hosted by Knight Life Chess, a D.C.-based chess organization.
Medicine Music Experience Part II: Black Godis Edition 📍 Go-Go Museum & Café (1920 Martin Luther King, Jr. Ave. SE) ⏰ 5 - 8 p.m. 💸 $28.52 Neptune XXI’s infectious music and lovable personality have musical veterans like Erykah Badu, Vic Mensa, and Raheem DeVaugh taking notice. D.C. is in for a treat as the Philly-based artist brings her Medicine Music Experience to the Go-Go Museum.
Here: Pride and Belonging in African Art 📍 National Museum of African Art (950 Independence Ave. SW) ⏰ 10 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. 💸 FREE Yes, the Smithsonian has a National Museum of African American History and Culture. Yes, there is also a National Museum of African Art. They are two separate entities. Now that that’s clear: The Here Project is a large-scale research initiative that seeks to document the work of LGBTQ+ African visual artists. The largest exhibition on this subject to date, with close to 60 artworks, demonstrates queer people’s central role in Africa’s history and future — in the art world and beyond.
Dance Party + Fundraiser hosted by Vote for Your Daughter 📍 La Cosecha (1280 4th St. NE) ⏰ 7 p.m. - 12 a.m. 💸 $49.87 Vote For Your Daughter is fighting for a future that honors, respects, and supports girls’ and women’s rights. Not your typical fundraiser, the organization is taking over the Union Market District’s Latin American food hall for a night of music, movement, joy, and community to raise not only funds for the cause, but vibes for the people — courtesy of Les the DJ, DJ Jahsonic, and DJ Xsa.
Eid Mubarak to all the Muslims in the DMV! (Courtesy of Tauheed Rahim II)
SUNDAY, MARCH 22
Eid Around the World 📍 Abrahamic House (Dupont Circle, register for address) ⏰ 1 - 3:30 p.m. 💸 FREE with RSVP Celebrate Eid al-Fitr with Abrahamic House, a community space dedicated to interfaith connections and cultural exploration. This year’s potluck-style dinner invites guests to experience the beauty and diversity of Muslim communities around the world at food stations representing West Africa, South Asia, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and Black American Muslim traditions.
Eatonville Night at Busboys 📍 Busboys and Poets Brookland (625 Monroe St. NE) ⏰ 5 - 7 p.m. or 7:30 - 9 p.m. 💸 $58.40 This event celebrates the legacy of Eatonville, in both senses — the oldest incorporated African American municipality in the United States, hometown of folklorist and Harlem Renaissance writer Zora Neale Hurston, and Eatonville Restaurant, a beloved D.C. eatery from a bygone era. The dinner features a four-course menu that explores Black culinary traditions dating back to the founding of the Florida town in 1887.
Peak Bloom Dome Experience 📍 Union Market Hi-Lawn (1309 5th St. NE) ⏰ 45-minute show with slots from 10 a.m. - 9:15 p.m. (21+ after 7 p.m.) 💸 $12-22 Cherry blossom season can bring upwards of a million visitors to our city. ARTECHOUSE is partnering with the Union Market rooftop venue for a celebration of D.C.’s fleeting springtime star. “Peak Bloom: Dome Experience” extends peak bloom with a breathtaking digital immersive experience inside the Hi-Lawn’s rooftop dome. Before or after the 45-minute show, explore Union Market or take a stroll along the Metropolitan Branch Trail.
Tauheed Rahim II is a DC-based Grammy-nominated hip hop artist, dramatist, and writer rooted in a Memphis–Mississippi blues legacy. His nonfiction appears in the Oxford American, and his essay “Dear Queen” was a 2025 Best American Essays notable.
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