Get your green on at City Ridge’s two-day Earth Day Weekend Festival, featuring URBNmarket, DC’s premier artisan pop-up event. On April 22 and 23 from 11:00AM to 6:00PM, shop sustainably from more than 50 handpicked, local vendors selling one-of-a-kind items on City Ridge’s iconic Great Lawn. Plus, experience nature through earth-themed, family-friendly activities like terracotta pot decorating, a children’s book reading and a pet rock adoption center. Families and friends can also enjoy live music, food trucks, glitter tattoos, face painting, and bubble art. You can even take home seeds from City Ridge’s Seed Library to start a thriving garden of your own!
WHEN: Saturday, April 22 and Sunday, April 23 from 11:00AM to 6:00PM
WHERE: City Ridge (14 Ridge Square NW Washington, DC 20016). Hourly parking is available on-site.
HOW: This event is FREE and open to the public. More details are available here.
ABOUT CITY RIDGE: City Ridge is a new community located along Wisconsin Avenue, with 690 apartment residences, CAVA’s new corporate headquarters, and Wegmans and Tatte Bakery & Cafe. For more information on City Ridge and its incoming retailers, click here.
Get your green on at City Ridge’s two-day Earth Day Weekend Festival, featuring URBNmarket, DC’s premier artisan pop-up event. On April 22 and 23 from 11:00AM to 6:00PM, shop sustainably from more than 50 handpicked, local vendors selling one-of-a-kind items on City Ridge’s iconic Great Lawn. Plus, experience nature through earth-themed, family-friendly activities like terracotta pot decorating, a children’s book reading and a pet rock adoption center. Families and friends can also enjoy live music, food trucks, glitter tattoos, face painting, and bubble art. You can even take home seeds from City Ridge’s Seed Library to start a thriving garden of your own!
WHEN: Saturday, April 22 and Sunday, April 23 from 11:00AM to 6:00PM
WHERE: City Ridge (14 Ridge Square NW Washington, DC 20016). Hourly parking is available on-site.
HOW: This event is FREE and open to the public. More details are available here.
ABOUT CITY RIDGE: City Ridge is a new community located along Wisconsin Avenue, with 690 apartment residences, CAVA’s new corporate headquarters, and Wegmans and Tatte Bakery & Cafe. For more information on City Ridge and its incoming retailers, click here.
The Commentary Social House will be hosting a ‘Bubbles and Blooms’ flower arrangement workshop on Sunday, April 23rd from 3 pm-5 pm in partnership with Calluna Flower Truck. Guests are invited to sip on libations and enjoy light bites as they make their own flower bouquets while receiving sustainability-focused flower-arranging tips from expert Elissa Abod, founder and owner of Calluna Flower Truck.
Elissa will teach the basics of creating flower arrangements using seasonal, local, and American-grown flowers. The focus will be on field to vase, showing how to make beautiful arrangements in a natural organic, and fun way. The Commentary will provide lite bites, wine, and bubbly, as well as a representative to educate the class on flower and wine pairings and floral aromas, considering flower wine is in full bloom.
The class will consist of flowers that are in bloom during April, including tulips, daffodils, anemones, ranunculus, and poppies, and each ticket holder will receive a vase along with their purchase.
Tickets for the class are $75 and can be found here.
A long-running event in Crystal City, Arlington, Virginia, underground bicycle racing that began as a series and evolved into the Garage Racing National Championships. Join the National Landing Business Improvement District (BID), the biking community and more than 100 participating cyclists at the sixth annual Garage Racing National Championships, the region’s ONLY underground bike race series that challenges amateur and elite cyclists alike to compete to be the National Champion.
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On Friday, April 28, from 6:00 to 8:30 PM, invite friends and family to watch a series of 30-minute relay, fixed gear, and anything goes races from a lounge area with great views, a spirited happy hour, and a celebration of bicycling to kick off National Bike Month.
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On Saturday, April 29, from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM, continue the fun all day long by watching a series of bike races ranging from 25 to 40 minutes for junior cyclists, men, women, and non-binary individuals.
The Garage Racing National Championships is part of a series of events and programming hosted by the National Landing BID to recognize National Bike Month. Check out exciting and diverse community events hosted throughout the year in National Landing and stay tuned for more details by visiting nationallanding.org/events.
WHEN: Friday, April 28, from 6:00 to 8:30 PM, and Saturday, April 29, from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM
WHERE: 2011 Crystal Drive Parking Lot – Floors 2 and 3 lower levels of the parking garage
HOW: Registration for this event is available here.
We Lager Our Lagers Event at Port City Brewing
Saturday, April 29, 12:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Port City Brewing Company, 3950 Wheeler Ave, Alexandria
At Port City we take our Lagers seriously, so much so that Port City has an entire series dedicated to Lagers! When they first debuted its Lager Series in 2017, they opened with the Helles Lager, which quickly became a fan favorite. It is only fitting that for this year’s Helles release weekend, Port City would throw a party dedicated just to Lagers. On April 29th, for the first time ever, Port City Brewing will be serving 10 Port City Lagers in one day, including our newest favorite, Pizza Night! All Lagers are subject to availability as some are just one keg we have reserved for the event.
Hidden within DC’s art-filled Blagden Alley is one of the city’s best outdoor dining and drinking spaces. Calico is debuting its in-bloom backyard at its inaugural Spring Festival on Sunday, April 30 from 2 to 8pm. The free-to-attend afternoon patio party will feature seasonal cocktails and spring eats, plus a pop-up flower shop, free floral crafts and more festive fun.
The centerpiece of the multi-level 3000-square-foot backyard is an antique metal greenhouse, adorned with blooms, greenery, and live grape vines for the warm seasons.
At the spring Sunday fest, guests can get crafty with free paper flower kits, creating their own faux floral bouquets while imbibing.
Calico will also introduce new cocktails and dishes for the season, including flower-topped tipples and herb pesto pies.
Famous for its adult juice boxes, the new “Southern Belle” pouch is filled with bourbon, peach, lemon and lime.
New draft and house cocktails include the blue-hued “Baby Shark” (Don Q Cristal Rum, Aperol, blue curacao and lime); the Calico riff on a classic “Paws-Mo” (Tito’s Vodka, Italicus Bergamot, pomegranate, lime); fizzy “The Lovelace” (Stoli Vanilla, Chinola passion fruit, lime, bubbles); and vibrant “Purple Rain” (mezcal, maraschino, creme de violette, lemon).
Dishes include homemade hummus and a new spring pesto tomato pie.
And local Little Shop of Flowers, a florist based in Adams Morgan for 30 years, will set up a pop-up flower shop from 4-6pm where attendees can purchase fresh blooms to take home.
Calico’s Spring Festival is free to attend and open to the public, with all food, beverage and fresh flowers sold a la carte. Guests can register for a free RSVP here, but entry is first-come first-served. For more information, please visit www.calicodc.com or call 202-791-0134.
WHO: Calico
WHEN: Sunday, April 30, 2023
2 p.m. – 8 p.m.
4pm-6pm (Little Shop of Flowers pop-up)
WHERE: Calico
50 Blagden Alley NW
For those who did not receive an invitation to the Coronation of King Charles, III and Her Majesty The Queen Consort of the United Kingdom, slated for May 6 at Westminster Abbey, Fairmont Washington, D.C., Georgetown is holding a Coronation Garden Party. The event takes place on Saturday, May 6, honoring the Coronation. Beginning at 9:30am, in the hotel’s courtyard, guests will enjoy a ceremonial celebration featuring authentic Scottish bagpiper Duncan Moore, a champagne sabering and slices of a Royal Coronation Cake, fit for a King and a Queen Consort.
Executive Pastry Chef Claus Olsen will create an impressive, towering cake to honor the coronation, and will share slices with guests as they toast His Majesty and The Queen consort along with a taste of sabered champagne.
All guests donning festive hats or fascinators will be eligible to win prizes for most authentic, fabulous and over-the-top – prizes awarded at 11:30 am. Cocktails and Coronation fare will be available for purchase, and Life-sized cutouts of the Royals will create perfect photo opportunities. To register for Fairmont’s Royal Coronation Garden Party, please visit Eventbrite.
Almost like watching from Churchill Downs, Jack Rose Dining Saloon will once again be Washington, DC’s premiere destination for Kentucky Derby festivities on Saturday, May 6 from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.
On the sunny rooftop terrace and whiskey-surrounded indoor Saloon, guests and race fanatics are invited to don their finest derby attire at the bar’s 11th Annual Kentucky Derby Celebration + Viewing Party, complete with mint juleps, complimentary Southern bites, plenty of Kentucky bourbon, and a live viewing of the 2023 Run for the Roses.
Commemorating “the greatest two minutes in sports,” Jack Rose will host its 11th Annual Derby Day Viewing Partyon two levels: its first-come, first-served open-air Rooftop Terrace and ticketed reserved seating in its spacious indoor Saloon, surrounded by thousands of bottles of whiskey.
The bar will be open early at 3pm, with both floors offering an a la carte menu of classic Mint Juleps made with Bardstown Fusion Series, other Southern-inspired cocktails like a spiked sweet tea punch & brown derby. Complimentary Derby hors d’oeuvres will be passed throughout the afternoon.
Saloon Reservations are available for $50/person (excluding tax & gratuity) which guarantees each party two-hour indoor reserved seating with direct views of the race on an extra-large projector screen with sound, plus a welcome pour of Bardstown Bourbon Fusion Series, one round of classic Bardstown Bourbon Company Classic Mint Juleps, and a Derby Platter for the table (cucumber sandwiches, KY hot browns & biscuits). Pre-paid Saloon reservations are available via Resy, for seatings between 5-6pm (just in time for the race’s 6:57pm post time).
And the bar’s Rooftop Terrace will also play host to a walk-ins-only viewing party, airing the Derby on six flat-screen TVs with sound. The Terrace party is free to attend, first-come first-served, with table and bar seating and standing room available. Guests are encouraged to don their Derby best – bow ties, seersucker, and big hats!
Port City Brewery’s Pop-Up Spring Makers’ Market with over 30 Artists, Creators, and Makers
Saturday, May 20, 2023
12-5 p.m. – Rain or Shine
3950 Wheeler Ave., Alexandria, VA 22304
Port City Brewing Company in partnership with Made in ALX announced a Spring Pop-Up Market, featuring local artisans and makers showcasing their handcrafted products, perfect for providing a spring refresh for the home as we welcome the upcoming season and kick-off summer. The event will feature over 30 artists displaying their crafts in a diverse family-friendly local pop-up market that will take place in Port City’s parking lot. Items available range from jewelry, home décor, woodcrafts, candles, wellness items, children’s play and much more, providing a variety of handmade goods to jumpstart your summer and officially shake off the winter blues. For a full slate of artisans scheduled to participate in the pop-up visit, MadeInALX.com. This year, the first 100 people will receive a free, limited-edition Spring Makers’ Market tote bag for their shopping. Additionally, the first 50 kids at the event will receive a free coloring book with art and activities created by Alexandria artists.
Get ready to embrace your inner villain at The Villains Ball, an unforgettable night of revelry, music, and fashion, produced by Plus Ultra Entertainment. The Villains Ball takes place May 20th, 2023, from 7pm-11pm at Sax Lounge in Washington, DC.
The Villains Ball is a unique event that celebrates the darker side of pop culture. Attendees will include villains from all fandoms, from anime and comic books to sci-fi and Disney. The event will feature an open bar, where guests can indulge in delicious cocktails, as well as complimentary food & dessert to keep the villains fueled all night long.
In addition to music, The Villains Ball will also feature a fire dancer and aerialist performances.
Not only will attendees be treated to an evening of entertainment, but they’ll also have the chance to rub elbows with celebrity guests, cosplayers and influencers, including LGBQIA+ Icon King Kitsu, Celebrity Master Chef Finalist and Star of Hulu’s “Best in Dough” Chef Mincey who sponsored the desserts for the ball, and local pop culture influencers Black Crystal Cosplay, Roquois and Shady Haze as seen on WETA/PBS Arts.
For more information, visit www.avillainsball.com
