Spooky Fun on Tap for Halloween Weekend
It’s Halloween and there will be parties galore tonight in the DMV. Most bars and clubs will be having spooky specials to celebrate All Hallows Eve. Then on Saturday, you can take your jack-o’-lanterns to Ellicott City and chuck them from a catapult or start your holiday shopping at the Czech Christmas Market. There are other events too if you haven’t had your fill of Halloween candy yet.
This weekend, Orange, Silver, Blue, Yellow and Green line trains will operate every 20 minutes, rather than every 12 minutes. Red Line trains will operate every 15 minutes with trains running every 8-10 minutes between Van Ness and NoMa-Gallaudet from 9 a.m.-9 p.m. Daylight Saving Time will end at 2 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 2. At that time, clocks will “fall back” to 1 a.m. giving partiers and extra hour.
Fall Festival
Embrace the season of pumpkins, crisp air and brightly colored leaves with an afternoon of fall fun. Catch autumn in full swing at the Fall Festival with harvest-themed activities including face painting, a hay bale maze, hot cider, the last Capital Harvest farmer’s market of the year, Washington Humane Society’s pet adoption van featuring dogs dressed up in costume and creative pumpkin displays you can vote for “Best Decorated Pumpkin.”
Oct. 31 from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. at the Woodrow Wilson Plaza of the Ronald Regan Building, 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. Admission is FREE!
Fear at the Freer
Costumes are encouraged as the Freer hosts its first ever Halloween event Fear at the Freer. If you forget your outfit, the gallery will offer free replica masks of ominous objects from its collection. After looking at art from 5-7 p.m., settle in for a free screening of Ringu, the Japanese film that inspired The Ring.
Oct. 31 staring at 5 p.m. at the Freer Gallery of Art, Jefferson Drive and 12th Street NW. Admission is FREE!
Boo-Rito
Come to Chipotle dressed in costume after 5 p.m. during Boorito and you’ll score a $3 burrito, bowl, salad or order of tacos. Take a photo of yourself in costume at Chipotle, then upload it to Twitter or Instagram with #chipotlebooritocontest and you could wine one of three $2,500 grand prices for Best Group Costume, Scariest Costume and Most Creative Costume or five runner-up prizes in each category of Chipotle Catering for 20. Proceeds up to $1 million will benefit the Chipotle Cultivate Foundation.
Oct. 31 from 5 p.m.-closing at area Chipotle restaurants. Come in costume and get $3 burrito, bowl, salad or tacos.
Night of the Bicycling Dead
Get into costume and join a group of cyclists for Night of the Bicycling Dead, a Halloween bike ride that kicks off near Bicycle Space’s Mount Vernon Square shop and ends at Bardo Brewpub for a zombie party.
Oct. 31 starting at 7:30 p.m. at Bicycle Space, 1019 Seventh St. NW. Admission is FREE, but register here.
Tim Burton: Melancholy, Mirth and Magic, Part I
Tim Burton has directed some stinkers (Dark Shadows and Alice in Wonderland, but his successes far outnumber his failures. The AFI Silver is starting its Tim Burton film festival, appropriately enough, on Halloween. A second part is coming in 2015. The lineup includes Sleepy Hallow, Beetlejuice, Ed Wood and Corpse Bride, which will be screened with two shorts: Vincent and Frankenweenie, the latter of which eventually inspired a feature adaption also being screened.
Oct. 31-Nov. 6 at various time at AFI Silver, 8633 Colesville Road, Silver Spring. Tickets are $12 for general admission, $10 for seniors, $9 for matinees and $7 for children.
Pumpkin Chucking
Don’t let those jack-o’-lanterns go to waste once Halloween is over. Take them to Clark’s Elioak Farm in Ellicott City for a good old fashioned pumpkin chucking. You supply the pumpkins, they’ll provide the chucker – by which we mean the catapult that sends pumpkins flying all over the farm. It’ll be cathartic for those ready to say farewell to pumpkin spice season.
Nov. 1 and 2 from 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. at Clark’s Elioak Farm, 10500 Clarksville Pike, Ellicott City, Md. Admission is FREE!.
Czech Christmas Market
Now that Halloween is over, it’s time to start your Christmas shopping. The Embassy of the Czech Republic is holding a special Czech Christmas Market featuring hand blown glass ornaments, handcrafted glass, Christmas cookies and mulled wine. Beginning at 10:30 a.m., Vit Horejs of the Czechoslovak-American Theater will perform the puppet show Czech and Slovak Tale for Strings. Proceds go to the Czech and Solvak School of Sokol Washington, which offers children language and grammar instruction, and lessons in history, traditions, music and folklore.
Nov. 1 from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. at the Embassy of the Czech Republic, 3900 Spring of Freedom St. NW. Admission is FREE!
Denizens brewery tour
Denizens Brewing Co. starts offering tours this weekend, with 10-person sessions on Saturdays and Sundays. Each tour lasts an hour and ends with a tasting of five Denizens beers.
Saturdays and Sundays at 1, 2:30, 4 and 5:30 p.m. at Denizens Brewing Co., 1115 East-West Highway, Silver Spring. Admission is $10.
K Street Farm Festival
At the K Street Farm Festival, OurCity will celebrate the fall harvest and connect the community to healthy food grown in the nation’s capital. The event will feature culinary demonstrations by Alba Osteria, herb garden tours, a pig roast by EcoFriendly Foods and live music by Sol Roots Trio and choirs from the Southern Baptist Church.
Nov. 1 from 1-5 p.m. at OurCity’s K Street Farm, 111 K St. NW. Admission is FREE!
Dog parade and costume contest
Humans and leashed dogs will parade up Bladensburg Road to Mount Olivet Cemetery, where beer lovers can hunt for the graves of some of Washington’s 19th century brewers. Then, the party returns to Bardo beer garden, where are contest will reward the best dog costume and the best owner-pet combo costume.
Nov. 1 starting at 3 p.m. at Bardo, 1200 Bladensburg Road. Admission is FREE!
Grave Yards
The Yards will be transformed into a stylishly spooky playground Grave Yards celebrating Day of the Dead. Live music, roaming street performers, fortune tellers and face painters will create a mystical environment for guests, who can pass the evening listening to lively mariachi bands, kicking back in the beer garden and touring a celebrity “graveyard,” where they can pay their respects to the likes of Elvis. There will be contortionists, escape artists, and a fortune telling station.
Nov. 1 from 6-10 p.m. at The Yards Park, 300 Tingey St. SE. Admission is FREE!
Daylight Savings Time ends
Daylight savings time ends at 2 a.m. Sunday when clocks “fall back” to 1 a.m. Partiers get an extra hour of drinking at the bars and clubs. Remember to set your clocks back an hour when you go to bed, or you’ll be an hour early for brunch on Sunday morning.
Sunday Sushi School
Roll into Sunday Sushi School with Chef Kaz Okochi and the culinary team at Masa 14 to learn how to make hand rolls with crunchy shrimp or spicy tuna and inside/out rolls featuring salmon or spicy salmon along with vegetables like avocados, cucumbers and scallions. The sushi school will take place on the first Sunday evening of each month through the end of the year. Once the sushi lesson is completed, guests will return to their table to enjoy the fruits of their labor in the dining room and can order a la carte from restaurant’s full menu as well.
Nov. 2 from 6-9 p.m. at Masa 14, 1825 14th St. NW. Cost is $15 or $21 with the Nihonsakari Extra Dry Cup sake paring. Reservations are recommended by calling l 202-328-1414.
Editor-in-Chief Mark Heckathorn is a journalist, movie buff and foodie. He oversees DC on Heels editorial operations as well as strategic planning and staff development. Reach him with story ideas or suggestions at dcoheditor (at) gmail (dot) com.