Aug
22
Wed
Ben’s Chili Bowl 60th Anniversary @ Ben's Chili Bowl
Aug 22 @ 11:00 AM – 3:00 PM

DATE:  Wednesday, August 22nd

TIME:  11:00AM- 3:00PM – PRESS CONFERENCE followed by BEN’S BLOCK PARTY

PLACE:  BEN’S CHILI BOWL, 1213 U St, NW

At 7:30PM the celebration continues at the Lincoln Theater with Ben’s Chili Bowl’s 60th Anniversary Celebration Gala, “A Tribute To Virginia Ali” benefitting theBen’s Chili Bowl Foundation (www.benschilibowlfoundation.org), whose mission is to positively impact and provide service to our community by giving back to the neighborhoods where we live and work.  All proceeds from all Ben’s Chili Bowl’s on Wednesday, August 22nd will go to the Ben’s Chili Bowl Foundation.

Visitors to Washington, DC have usually heard about Ben’s Chili Bowl long before their arrival. Many remember the news of President Obama stopping by to enjoy a Chili Half Smoke. Ben’s has been seen on The Steve Harvey Show, The Daily Show, Man vs. Food, CNN, Oprah, Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations, The Today Show, Good Morning America, CBS This Morning, Larry King Live, Larry the Cable Guy, and countless other local, national and international shows, newspapers and magazines.

Ben’s Chili Bowl has also been seen in films like Russell Crowe’s State of Play, Denzel Washington’s The Pelican Brief, and Don Cheadle’s Talk to Me. In the old days, guests included Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, Cab Calloway, Nat King Cole, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and many other luminaries. More recently, French President Sarkozy, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, members of the US Congress, and many other noteworthy political and sports figures have stopped by to sample the world famous Ben’s cuisine.  Other recent visitors include Dave Chappelle, Bruno Mars, Serena Williams, Taraji P Henson, Chris Rock, Kevin Hart, George Lopez, Terrence Howard, Jimmy Fallon, Usher, Bono, Nick Cannon, Sara Jessica Parker, Tyrese, Lance Gross, George Clinton, Chaka Khan, Joe Mantegna, Rachel Ray, Chris Tucker, Tommy Davidson, Pauly Shore, Harry Belafonte, and Danny Glover to name a few.

In addition to being known as the place in DC where everyday people brush shoulders with celebrities, Ben’s Chili Bowl has also been honored to receive numerous awards and accolades, including the prestigious “America’s Classics” award from the James Beard Foundation.  In 2008, Ben and Virginia Ali were given the Key to the City by DC Mayor Adrian Fenty, and in 2009 Ben’s was honored by the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington. In 2010, the George Washington University enshrined Ben’s Chili Bowl’s historic papers, documents and photos into its main Gelman Library, and all documents have been digitized for students and scholars throughout the world to examine.

Yet, in spite of all the world recognition and fame, local residents of DC, Maryland and Virginia know the real truth about Ben’s Chili Bowl, and that truth is simple.  They know that Ben’s is first and foremost about FAMILY and COMMUNITY.  For 60 years, Ben’s has graciously served the people, and every guest has always been embraced as family. When segregation was still alive, Ben’s offered a peaceful gathering place and safe haven for ALL people, regardless of any differences in background or perspective. Society has grown and changed, but Ben’s remains the same and continues to celebrate people from all walks of life as they come together to eat, laugh, and discuss life as they see it. On Wednesday, August 22nd, please join everyone at Ben’s Chili Bowl as they celebrate 60 years.

Aug
24
Fri
Crystal City Friday at the Fountain @ Crystal City Water Park
Aug 24 @ 5:00 PM – 9:00 PM

Crystal City’s summertime happy hour is back, opening a month early and announcing a new partnership with The Stand  bringing food and beverage from local restaurants and an exciting live music lineup. Starting on May 4, each Friday from 5-9 pm, attendees can listen to live music from a variety of bands while enjoying local bites and drink.

This new partnership brings the focus on local flavor, highlighting some of the best new food trends the area has to offer. This free event is open to people of all ages, providing a place for residents, workers and visitors to listen, relax, and wind down from their busy week.

What: Fridays at the Fountain

When: Every Friday May – October from 5:00pm to 9:00pm

Where: Crystal City Water Park – 1751 Crystal Drive, Arlington, VA 22202

Live Music Schedule:

May 4       Revelator Hill
May 11     Whiskey Pull
May 18     Zach Cutler & Friends
May 25     Gordon Sterling 3
June 1      Big Bad Juju
June 8      Mary El Band
June 15    Revelator Hill
June 22    Jonathan Sloane Trio
June 29    Holly Montgomery
July 6       The Jogo Project
July 13     The Jon Miller Band
July 20     Gordon Sterling and the People
July 27     Big Bad Juju

**Later dates to be announced**

Admission: 100% Free to enter, listen, and relax; food and drink for purchase (credit cards accepted) – $5 for beer/wine. $20 to join the Mug Club and receive a branded, reusable mug.

Aug
31
Fri
Crystal City Friday at the Fountain @ Crystal City Water Park
Aug 31 @ 5:00 PM – 9:00 PM

Crystal City’s summertime happy hour is back, opening a month early and announcing a new partnership with The Stand  bringing food and beverage from local restaurants and an exciting live music lineup. Starting on May 4, each Friday from 5-9 pm, attendees can listen to live music from a variety of bands while enjoying local bites and drink.

This new partnership brings the focus on local flavor, highlighting some of the best new food trends the area has to offer. This free event is open to people of all ages, providing a place for residents, workers and visitors to listen, relax, and wind down from their busy week.

What: Fridays at the Fountain

When: Every Friday May – October from 5:00pm to 9:00pm

Where: Crystal City Water Park – 1751 Crystal Drive, Arlington, VA 22202

Live Music Schedule:

May 4       Revelator Hill
May 11     Whiskey Pull
May 18     Zach Cutler & Friends
May 25     Gordon Sterling 3
June 1      Big Bad Juju
June 8      Mary El Band
June 15    Revelator Hill
June 22    Jonathan Sloane Trio
June 29    Holly Montgomery
July 6       The Jogo Project
July 13     The Jon Miller Band
July 20     Gordon Sterling and the People
July 27     Big Bad Juju

**Later dates to be announced**

Admission: 100% Free to enter, listen, and relax; food and drink for purchase (credit cards accepted) – $5 for beer/wine. $20 to join the Mug Club and receive a branded, reusable mug.

Sep
2
Sun
NSO Labor Day Concert @ Capital West Lawn
Sep 2 @ 8:00 PM – 10:00 PM

The National Symphony Orchestra (NSO), led by guest conductor JoAnn Falletta, performs its annual free Labor Day weekend concert on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol, Sunday, September 2, at 8:00 p.m. The concert will feature two NSO Principal musicians and former Washington National Opera Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist, Leah Hawkins, as soloists. No tickets are required. Gates open to the public at 3:00 p.m. with an open rehearsal at 3:30 p.m.

The NSO’s Labor Day Weekend Concert has been a NSO tradition since 1979. This year’s program features works by living American composers, including Libby Larsen and Jonathan Bailey Holland, and Americana-themed works, such as Aaron Copland’s Rodeo. Full program details can be found below.

In case of inclement weather, please call the NSO’s Summer Concert Hotline at (202) 416-8114 after 2:30 p.m. on the day of the concert to find out whether the performance will take place at the Capitol, or whether it will move indoors to the Kennedy Center Concert Hall. If the concert moves indoors, there will be no open rehearsal.  The concert will be approximately 90 minutes long, with no intermission, at 8 p.m.

Sunday Evening, September 2 at 8:00 p.m.

FREE ADMISSION, NO TICKETS REQUIRED

West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol

Rain Location:  Kennedy Center Concert Hall

 

JoAnn Falletta, conductor

Aaron Goldman, NSO Principal Flute

Craig Mulcahy, NSO Principal Trombone

Leah Hawkins, narrator & vocalist

 

John Stafford SMITH “The Star-Spangled Banner”

Adolphus HAILSTORK “Fanfare on Amazing Grace”

Libby LARSEN “Deep Summer Music”

Jonathan Bailey HOLLAND  “Equality”

Leah Hawkins, narrator

Arturo MÁRQUEZ Danzon No. 2

William BOLCOM “Waltz Clogg” from Lyric Concerto for Flute

Aaron Goldman, flute

Aaron COPLAND  Three Dances from Rodeo

Arthur PRYOR “Blue Bells of Scotland”

Craig Mulcahy, trombone

arr. Carmen DRAGON “Shenandoah”

arr. John WILLIAMS “Hooray for Hollywood”

arr. James KESSLER “Service Medley”

arr. Carmen DRAGON “America, the Beautiful”

Sep
7
Fri
Crystal City Friday at the Fountain @ Crystal City Water Park
Sep 7 @ 5:00 PM – 9:00 PM

Crystal City’s summertime happy hour is back, opening a month early and announcing a new partnership with The Stand  bringing food and beverage from local restaurants and an exciting live music lineup. Starting on May 4, each Friday from 5-9 pm, attendees can listen to live music from a variety of bands while enjoying local bites and drink.

This new partnership brings the focus on local flavor, highlighting some of the best new food trends the area has to offer. This free event is open to people of all ages, providing a place for residents, workers and visitors to listen, relax, and wind down from their busy week.

What: Fridays at the Fountain

When: Every Friday May – October from 5:00pm to 9:00pm

Where: Crystal City Water Park – 1751 Crystal Drive, Arlington, VA 22202

Live Music Schedule:

May 4       Revelator Hill
May 11     Whiskey Pull
May 18     Zach Cutler & Friends
May 25     Gordon Sterling 3
June 1      Big Bad Juju
June 8      Mary El Band
June 15    Revelator Hill
June 22    Jonathan Sloane Trio
June 29    Holly Montgomery
July 6       The Jogo Project
July 13     The Jon Miller Band
July 20     Gordon Sterling and the People
July 27     Big Bad Juju

**Later dates to be announced**

Admission: 100% Free to enter, listen, and relax; food and drink for purchase (credit cards accepted) – $5 for beer/wine. $20 to join the Mug Club and receive a branded, reusable mug.

Sep
14
Fri
Crystal City Friday at the Fountain @ Crystal City Water Park
Sep 14 @ 5:00 PM – 9:00 PM

Crystal City’s summertime happy hour is back, opening a month early and announcing a new partnership with The Stand  bringing food and beverage from local restaurants and an exciting live music lineup. Starting on May 4, each Friday from 5-9 pm, attendees can listen to live music from a variety of bands while enjoying local bites and drink.

This new partnership brings the focus on local flavor, highlighting some of the best new food trends the area has to offer. This free event is open to people of all ages, providing a place for residents, workers and visitors to listen, relax, and wind down from their busy week.

What: Fridays at the Fountain

When: Every Friday May – October from 5:00pm to 9:00pm

Where: Crystal City Water Park – 1751 Crystal Drive, Arlington, VA 22202

Live Music Schedule:

May 4       Revelator Hill
May 11     Whiskey Pull
May 18     Zach Cutler & Friends
May 25     Gordon Sterling 3
June 1      Big Bad Juju
June 8      Mary El Band
June 15    Revelator Hill
June 22    Jonathan Sloane Trio
June 29    Holly Montgomery
July 6       The Jogo Project
July 13     The Jon Miller Band
July 20     Gordon Sterling and the People
July 27     Big Bad Juju

**Later dates to be announced**

Admission: 100% Free to enter, listen, and relax; food and drink for purchase (credit cards accepted) – $5 for beer/wine. $20 to join the Mug Club and receive a branded, reusable mug.

Sep
21
Fri
Crystal City Friday at the Fountain @ Crystal City Water Park
Sep 21 @ 5:00 PM – 9:00 PM

Crystal City’s summertime happy hour is back, opening a month early and announcing a new partnership with The Stand  bringing food and beverage from local restaurants and an exciting live music lineup. Starting on May 4, each Friday from 5-9 pm, attendees can listen to live music from a variety of bands while enjoying local bites and drink.

This new partnership brings the focus on local flavor, highlighting some of the best new food trends the area has to offer. This free event is open to people of all ages, providing a place for residents, workers and visitors to listen, relax, and wind down from their busy week.

What: Fridays at the Fountain

When: Every Friday May – October from 5:00pm to 9:00pm

Where: Crystal City Water Park – 1751 Crystal Drive, Arlington, VA 22202

Live Music Schedule:

May 4       Revelator Hill
May 11     Whiskey Pull
May 18     Zach Cutler & Friends
May 25     Gordon Sterling 3
June 1      Big Bad Juju
June 8      Mary El Band
June 15    Revelator Hill
June 22    Jonathan Sloane Trio
June 29    Holly Montgomery
July 6       The Jogo Project
July 13     The Jon Miller Band
July 20     Gordon Sterling and the People
July 27     Big Bad Juju

**Later dates to be announced**

Admission: 100% Free to enter, listen, and relax; food and drink for purchase (credit cards accepted) – $5 for beer/wine. $20 to join the Mug Club and receive a branded, reusable mug.

Sep
28
Fri
Crystal City Friday at the Fountain @ Crystal City Water Park
Sep 28 @ 5:00 PM – 9:00 PM

Crystal City’s summertime happy hour is back, opening a month early and announcing a new partnership with The Stand  bringing food and beverage from local restaurants and an exciting live music lineup. Starting on May 4, each Friday from 5-9 pm, attendees can listen to live music from a variety of bands while enjoying local bites and drink.

This new partnership brings the focus on local flavor, highlighting some of the best new food trends the area has to offer. This free event is open to people of all ages, providing a place for residents, workers and visitors to listen, relax, and wind down from their busy week.

What: Fridays at the Fountain

When: Every Friday May – October from 5:00pm to 9:00pm

Where: Crystal City Water Park – 1751 Crystal Drive, Arlington, VA 22202

Live Music Schedule:

May 4       Revelator Hill
May 11     Whiskey Pull
May 18     Zach Cutler & Friends
May 25     Gordon Sterling 3
June 1      Big Bad Juju
June 8      Mary El Band
June 15    Revelator Hill
June 22    Jonathan Sloane Trio
June 29    Holly Montgomery
July 6       The Jogo Project
July 13     The Jon Miller Band
July 20     Gordon Sterling and the People
July 27     Big Bad Juju

**Later dates to be announced**

Admission: 100% Free to enter, listen, and relax; food and drink for purchase (credit cards accepted) – $5 for beer/wine. $20 to join the Mug Club and receive a branded, reusable mug.

Washington Antiquarian Book Fair @ Holiday Inn Rosslyn
Sep 28 @ 5:00 PM – 9:00 PM

Visitors have the rare chance to flip through and purchase a piece of history at the 43rd annual Washington Antiquarian Book Fair: September 28 & ­29, 2018 at Holiday Inn Rosslyn.

WABF is the D.C. region’s only curated festival of rare and collectible books, manuscripts, autographs, maps, drawings and other fine ephemera.

Among this year’s highlights:
­ 1st edition of Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897): bound in publisher’s original cloth
­ Limited­edition copy of Betty Crocker’s Picture Cook Book: signed by the author
­ 1st edition of Thunderball (1961): Ian Fleming’s first novel featuring notorious James
Bond villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld
­ 1st printing of Thomas Pynchon’s 1973 novel, Gravity’s Rainbow
You needn’t be a veteran collector – or a gazillionaire – to enjoy WABF. More than 60 exhibitors
will offer items for all budgets and interests.

WABF director Beth Campbell says the personal nature of WABF is something worth
celebrating, especially “with the advent of doing business online.” She calls WABF “an active
museum, a forum to access diverse knowledge gathered in one place.”

WABF is “about connectedness and discovery,” Campbell says. “The exhibitors are connected
to their collections, each other and the fairgoers. The fairgoers are connected to a particular
genre, author or time. We all discover more when we connect and converse with one another.”

Special features at the 43rd annual WABF include personalized impromptu haikus from
“wordsmith minimalists” Haiku Gals, and the chance to make bookmarks and bind pamphlets
with renowned bookbinder and conservator Jill Deiss of Cat Tail Run Hand Bookbinding.

What: 43rd Annual Washington Antiquarian Book Fair (www.wabf.com)
When: Friday, September 28, 2017: 5pm – 9pm
Saturday, September 29, 2017: 10am – 5pm

Where: Holiday Inn Rosslyn: 1900 Fort Myer Dr., Arlington, VA, 22209
Tickets: Fri. + Sat.: $15. Sat. only: $10 ($5 for students & librarians w/valid ID).
Children 12 & under free. Purchase tickets at wabf.com or at the door.
Find Us: Twitter: @theWABF (#WABF18) / Facebook: facebook.com/thewabf
Contact: Beth Campbell: bcampbell@wabf.com / (202) 363­4999

Sep
29
Sat
Washington Antiquarian Book Fair @ Holiday Inn Rosslyn
Sep 29 @ 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM

Visitors have the rare chance to flip through and purchase a piece of history at the 43rd annual Washington Antiquarian Book Fair: September 28 & ­29, 2018 at Holiday Inn Rosslyn.

WABF is the D.C. region’s only curated festival of rare and collectible books, manuscripts, autographs, maps, drawings and other fine ephemera.

Among this year’s highlights:
­ 1st edition of Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897): bound in publisher’s original cloth
­ Limited­edition copy of Betty Crocker’s Picture Cook Book: signed by the author
­ 1st edition of Thunderball (1961): Ian Fleming’s first novel featuring notorious James
Bond villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld
­ 1st printing of Thomas Pynchon’s 1973 novel, Gravity’s Rainbow
You needn’t be a veteran collector – or a gazillionaire – to enjoy WABF. More than 60 exhibitors
will offer items for all budgets and interests.

WABF director Beth Campbell says the personal nature of WABF is something worth
celebrating, especially “with the advent of doing business online.” She calls WABF “an active
museum, a forum to access diverse knowledge gathered in one place.”

WABF is “about connectedness and discovery,” Campbell says. “The exhibitors are connected
to their collections, each other and the fairgoers. The fairgoers are connected to a particular
genre, author or time. We all discover more when we connect and converse with one another.”

Special features at the 43rd annual WABF include personalized impromptu haikus from
“wordsmith minimalists” Haiku Gals, and the chance to make bookmarks and bind pamphlets
with renowned bookbinder and conservator Jill Deiss of Cat Tail Run Hand Bookbinding.

What: 43rd Annual Washington Antiquarian Book Fair (www.wabf.com)
When: Friday, September 28, 2017: 5pm – 9pm
Saturday, September 29, 2017: 10am – 5pm

Where: Holiday Inn Rosslyn: 1900 Fort Myer Dr., Arlington, VA, 22209
Tickets: Fri. + Sat.: $15. Sat. only: $10 ($5 for students & librarians w/valid ID).
Children 12 & under free. Purchase tickets at wabf.com or at the door.
Find Us: Twitter: @theWABF (#WABF18) / Facebook: facebook.com/thewabf
Contact: Beth Campbell: bcampbell@wabf.com / (202) 363­4999