Celebrate the joy of a perfect summer tomato, catch a movie, go back to the time of the dinosaurs, or eat an apple with new friends — there’s something for everybody!
Celebrate the joy of a perfect summer tomato, catch a movie, go back to the time of the dinosaurs, or eat an apple with new friends — there’s something for everybody!
In addition to the peak of summer’s sweltering heat, this week has been filled with intense thunderstorms. Luckily the weekend is here, and there’s a lot of fun to be had.
For produce lovers, there’s a tomato party and an apple-eating event. For movie buffs, there’s a teen rom-com at the Library of Congress, a martial-arts classic at the National Museum of Asian Art, and an African Diaspora film festival at GW. And for everyone else, there’s a spelling bee, nature journaling, a throwback dance party, a dinosaur festival, and more.
THURSDAY, AUGUST 13
The Library of Congress’s summer movie series concludes Thursday night with a screening of Clueless. (Courtesy of Library of Congress)
Tomato Party 📍 Common Good City Farm (300 V St. NW) ⏰ 6 - 8 p.m. 💸 FREE, suggested donation $25-$40 We’ve reached peak tomato season, and the farmers markets are overflowing with heirloom varieties of all shapes, sizes, and colors. If you’re looking for a way to celebrate beyond making caprese salad, head to Common Good City Farm for their annual Tomato Party. There will be fresh picks for tasting as well as other theme-forward foods and a bar with cocktails and mocktails. The party also serves as a back-to-school fundraiser to buy school supplies for local students and support Common Good’s programming.
Second Annual People's Spelling Bee 📍 Patchwork (1506 19th St. NW) ⏰ 7 - 9 p.m. 💸 FREE to attend, $10 to compete Are you haunted by the word that knocked you out of the running in your middle school spelling bee? Here’s your chance to make up for it! Patchwork is hosting an adult word-nerd throwdown. Compete against your friends and neighbors to fight for the title of spelling champ — and a cash prize. If you’re the kind of person who is hopeless without spell check, you can just come to watch and C-H-E-E-R!
Funny Farm: Pop-Up Comedy 📍 Edgewood Community Farm (2304 2nd St. NE) ⏰ 7:30 - 8:30 p.m. 💸 $10 Bring a picnic and some friends to enjoy stand-up comedy among crops and community. This BYOB event will feature around six comics, including a headliner. The farm has seating available, but guests are welcome to bring blankets!
Live! At the Library: Clueless 📍 Library of Congress Thomas Jefferson Building, North Lawn (10 1st St. SE) ⏰ 8 - 10 p.m. 💸 FREE Roll with the homies over to the lawn of the Library of Congress for a screening of Clueless, a time capsule of 1990s teen culture laid over the storyline of Jane Austen's Emma. It’s the final installment of the library’s “Summer Movies on the Lawn” series, which showcases iconic films from the Library’s National Film Registry. (Clueless was inducted in 2025, alongside The Karate Kid and Inception.) No tickets required, but get there early if you can — lawn space is limited.
FRIDAY, AUGUST 14
Take a little time to slow down and appreciate the summer foliage with a nature journaling session at the Enid A. Haupt Garden. (ajay_suresh / Flickr)
Nature Journaling 📍 Enid A. Haupt Garden (1050 Independence Ave. SW) ⏰ 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. 💸 FREE Slow down and spend some time appreciating the late-summer blooms and greenery with a nature journaling session on the east terrace of the Haupt garden. Every Friday, Smithsonian Gardens hosts this event designed to help visitors learn more about the plants in the gardens and appreciate the nature you can find in D.C. The garden team will provide journaling prompts, as well as journals and art materials for anyone who needs them.
African Diaspora International Film Festival 📍 George Washington University Student Center (800 21st St. NW) ⏰ 5:30 p.m., with films screening all weekend 💸 $30+ Friday night marks the opening of this three-day film festival showcasing award-winning independent films that explore powerful stories from the African diaspora. This year’s lineup features 14 films from 14 countries. The festival opens Friday evening with a screening of A Better Way, a documentary that tells the story of Rev. James Lawson and the American movement for nonviolent resistance. Saturday and Sunday will feature additional films along with filmmaker Q&As, special guests, and more. See the full list of screenings here.
Movie Night: Hard Target 📍 National Museum of Asian Art (1050 Independence Ave. SW) ⏰ 7 - 8:45 p.m. 💸 FREE, advance registration recommended All summer, the National Museum of Asian Art has been celebrating the work of acclaimed Hong Kong action director John Woo. To close out the series, the museum is screening Hard Target, Woo’s American directorial debut. The 1993 film stars fellow action movie legend Jean-Claude Van Damme as Chance Boudreaux, an out-of-work former Marine who saves a young woman from a gang of thugs in New Orleans. The screening is a “Can I Kick It?” event, so a live DJ will accompany the movie.
Author event: When We Were Feral, Shasta Grant 📍 Politics and Prose (5015 Connecticut Ave. NW) ⏰ 7 p.m. 💸 FREE Set in rural New Hampshire in the early 1990s, author Shasta Grant’s latest novel is a gritty coming-of-age tale. With her friends, 13-year-old Maggie investigates the disappearance of a classmate’s mother, learning more about themselves along the way. Grant will discuss her new book with local writer and poet Chloe Yelena Miller.
Hashtag 2016: Throwback Lesbian Party 📍 DC9 (1940 9th St. NW) ⏰ 11 p.m. 💸 $7.20-15.86 In the summer of 2016, Drake’s “One Dance” was topping the charts and Bob the Drag Queen released “Purse First” after winning season eight of RuPaul’s Drag Race. This DC9 dance party — hosted by queer event organizers Alphabet Soup — doubles as a time machine to 10 years ago. DJs Lauren Jay and Close Friends Collective will be spinning throwback hits all night.
SATURDAY, AUGUST 15
On Saturday morning the Kreeger Museum is hosting an all-levels yoga class in its outdoor sculpture garden. (Courtesy of the Kreeger Museum)
Yoga in the Sculpture Garden 📍 Kreeger Museum (2401 Foxhall Rd. NW) ⏰ 10 - 11 a.m. 💸 $25 yoga, $40 yoga and museum admission Start your Saturday with sun salutations surrounded by art and nature. This all-levels yoga class will be held among the contemporary sculptures in the garden of the Kreeger Museum. Bring your own yoga mat and any props you wish to use. And be prepared to stretch in the sun — bring water and put on sunscreen. If music is more your thing, the Kreeger is also hosting a jazz show in the afternoon featuring the Quentin Walston Trio.
Vintage Car Show & Pinewood Derby Race 📍 MLK Library (901 G St. NW) ⏰ 12 - 4 p.m. 💸 FREE Pull up to the library to admire vintage automobiles and chat with the owners who keep them running. Inside, you’ll find a very different kind of vehicle competing in the library’s very first Pinewood Derby. Everyone is invited to build their own wooden racer and send it flying down the track. Artist Calder Brannock will be on site to lead the building and racing fun.
The Five Elements of Flavor with Dr. Madea Allen 📍 Anacostia Community Museum (1901 Fort Pl. SE) ⏰ 12 - 2 p.m. 💸 FREE At this interactive, family-friendly workshop, participants will learn about the five elements of flavor: sour, bitter, sweet, pungent, and salty. Dr. Madea Allen, a practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine, will lead an exploration of taste and how it can influence digestion, energy, and emotional wellbeing. After tasting representative samples of each flavor, you’ll assemble a traditional Five Spice powder blend to keep the flavor journey going at home.
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From our Civics Roundup: Garfield Park Native History Day ⏰ 11 a.m. - 3 p.m. 📍 Garfield Park (2nd and G St. SE) Want to learn about local indigenous history? The D.C. Native History Project will be tabling at this Capitol Hill park, sharing stories about the artifacts found when the park was built and the people who lived on the land we now call home. If it rains Saturday, they'll be out on Sunday, August 16.
eat an apple with me 📍 Malcolm X Park (16th St. NW and W St. NW) ⏰ 2 - 2:05 p.m. 💸 FREE Sometimes an idea stems and you just have to pluck it off the branch and go with it. That’s what Carl Endrulat did when he invited strangers to come to Malcolm X Park and eat an apple with him. Now more than 3,000 people have said they’re going, and City Cast D.C. called it “D.C.’s hottest summer party.” When you really get down to the core of it, this is a community event, one that could bring people together from different walks of life and all over the city. And doesn’t that sound ap-peel-ing? The event is BYOA (bring your own apple), but many attendees are promising to bring apples to share.
Nerd Nite DC August 2026: Survive the Apocalypse Edition 📍 DC9 (1940 9th St. NW) ⏰ 6 p.m. doors, 6:30 p.m. start 💸 $19.57 advance, $25.75 day of show Between the wildfire smoke and the plague of insects and the National Guard, it’s easy to feel like we’re living in dystopian times lately. This month’s Nerd Nite is all about surviving in a world that seems like it’s falling apart — and have some fun while doing it. Hear from a full-time fire protection engineer and part-time comedian, learn about the time-honored tradition of hiding money around your house for emergencies, and why we’re evolutionarily primed to help our grieving friends.
Brontë Sister House Party 📍 Van Ness Main Street (4340 Connecticut Ave. NW) ⏰ 8 p.m. 💸 $25, discounts for students and industry members The house party of the season is hosted by none other than Emily, Charlotte, and Anne Brontë — who you may remember from Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, respectively. In this play from Nu Sass Productions, the Brontë sisters are stuck in purgatory, suffering through party after party in an endless time loop. Will they ever reach Point of Celebratory Reverence and escape? The show runs from August 14 to September 12 — opening night is already sold out, but you can catch it at another point in the run.
SUNDAY, AUGUST 16
Put some new color into your old clothes at a tie-dying event on Sunday at Rhizome. (duluoz cats / Flickr)
Dinosaur Festival 📍 Because Science (1759 Columbia Rd. NW) ⏰ 12 - 5 p.m. 💸 FREE Know a clever kid who goes crazy for a corythosaurus or thinks tyrannosaurs are terrific? This day of prehistoric fun may be the perfect thing for them. Designed for children ages 5–12, an interactive festival at Adams Morgan’s science store invites families to step into the past with fossil-themed projects, a dinosaur egg smash, a scavenger hunt, and more.
Agatha Christie + Sherry Club Chats The Mousetrap 📍 Baan Siam (425 I St. NW) ⏰ 3 p.m. 💸 $30.36+ Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap opened in London's West End in 1952 and ran continuously until the Covid pandemic — more than 30,000 performances. The murder mystery has kept millions of people on the edge of their seats – including you, if you can read it before Sunday? This month, Loyalty Bookstore’s Agatha Christie Book Club is holding a discussion led by Loyalty co-owner Hannah Oliver Depp and sherry sommelier Chantal Tseng. Tickets include sherry and a snack!
Fighting Words, Civil War: Profs & Pints Northern Virginia 📍 Highline RxR (2010 Crystal Dr.; Arlington, Virginia) ⏰ 6 - 8:30 p.m. 💸 $14.77 advance, $17 day of show In 1856, South Carolina congressman Preston Brooks used his walking cane to beat Senator Charles Sumner unconscious in the Senate chamber in retaliation for a speech denouncing slavery. That infamous event intensified the fight over slavery that ultimately led to the Civil War. At this casual bar-based lecture series, Virginia Tech professor Paul Quigley, who recently published The Man Behind the Cane, will explain the modern political relevance of this notorious historical moment.
Bleach & Dye with DC Zine Fest 📍 Rhizome DC (6950 Maple St. NW) ⏰ 6 - 9 p.m., timed entry 💸 FREE(advance registration required, with optional donation) Bring your old clothes in need of an update to this DIY alteration party. There will be tie-dye supplies for light clothes and bleach for dark clothes. The event is organized by DC Zinefest, which will also have materials on hand to make zines while you wait for clothes to process. If you have zines at home — your own or made by others — you’re welcome to bring them to trade with other attendees!
Squeeze every last drop out of the summer with a kayaking cleanup, a beginner fishing event, and more opportunities to learn while connecting with your neighbors.
This midsummer weekend features all the charm of a D.C July. Unique opportunities to celebrate culture and build community — worth it, no matter the humidity.
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