Great Weekend for Outdoor Activities
Great weather is expected for outdoor activities over the weekend, except for Saturday morning. There’s plenty of outdoor activities on tap this weekend. There are also some indoor activities planned if there is a passing patch of rain or if you want to get in out of the heat. Of course, it will also be a great weekend to head to the pool or beach.
This weekend, Orange, Silver and Blue line trains will operate at regular weekend intervals. Yellow and Green line trains will operate every 20 minutes throughout the weekend with Yellow Line trains operating between Huntington and Greenbelt. From 12:01 a.m. Saturday through closing Saturday, buses will replace Red Line trains between NoMa-Gallaudet and Farragut North stations. The upper levels of Metro Center and Gallery Place along with Judiciary Square and Union Station will be closed. Red Line trains will operate every 10 minutes between Shady Grove and Farragut North and between NoMa-Gallaudet and Glenmont. Regular weekend Red Line service will resume at 7 a.m. Sunday. At Metro Center, only the 12th and F Streets and 12th and G Streets enters will be open for Orange, Silver and Blue line passengers and Seventh and F Streets and 7th and H Streets entrances at Gallery Place will be open for Green and Yellow line riders.
Capital Fringe
Capital Fringe kicks off its 10th annual festival this weekend with 130 productions at 35 venues with 5,000 artists. This year features the first ever bonus week with award-winning shows from this year’s festival, audience favorites and the most buzz worthy shows. There is a Late Night Cabaret from 9:30 p.m.-1 a.m. Wednesday through Sunday with live music, improve, variety acts and more. And its free at Logan Fringe Arts Space, 1358 Florida Ave. NE. A daily flag ceremony will take place at sunrise and sunset at the box office. There will also be a shuttle bus during regular festival hours to take attendees between venues. Just show your Fringe button and the ride is free. Shuttle stops are located at the Logan Fringe Arts Space, the east entrance of the Brookland Metro station off Newton Street SE and at Gallaudet University, 800 Florida Ave. NE outside Elsted Auditorium.
July 9-Aug. 2 at various times and locations around D.C. Single tickets cost $17 plus a one-time purchase of a $7 Fringe button. Multi-show passes range from $30-$350. Tickets, passes and buttons may be purchased at the main box office, 1358 Florida Ave. NE, from 5-10 p.m. Tuesday to Friday and 11 a.m.-10:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Single tickets and buttons will also be available at the venue 45 minutes prior to curtain. A full list of shows is available online.
Jazz in the Garden

Concert goers enjoy jazz in the National Gallery of Art’s sculpture garden. (Photo: National Gallery of Art)
There’s nothing better than free outdoor music on a warm summer night. Pack a picnic and enjoy the music at Jazz in the Garden. A different jazz artist will be featured each Friday during the summer. You can bring your own food and non-alcoholic beverages, but beer, wine, sangria and mixed drinks must be purchased from the Pavilion Café. A special menu of appetizers, entrees and salads is also available at the café, while an outdoor grill will serve barbecue pork sandwiches, beef and chicken kabobs and chicken sausages. A gelato cart will also be available. Hendrick Meurkens, who plays jazz xylophone and harmonica, performs this week, followed by jazz keyboardist Lao Tizer next week.
Every Friday through Aug. 28 from 5-8:30 p.m. at the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden, Seventh Street and Constitution Avenue NW. Admission is FREE!
D.C. Loves Dilla

D.C. Loves Dilla includes a concert and after party Friday night at the Howard Theatre. (Photo: D.C. Loves Dilla)
The 10th annual D.C. Loves Dilla tribute concert honors one of Hip-Hop’s most influential music producers and artists, James Dewitt Yancey a.k.a. J Dilla. This year also commemorates the 15th anniversary of J Dilla’s inaugural album, Fan-Tas-Tic Vol. 2, which was released when he was an original member of the Hip-Hop group Slum Village. The remaining members of the group, T3 and Young RJ, will honor J Dilla with a special performance during the tribute. Other performers include Common, Slum Village, Georgia Ann Muldrow and others backed by the official D.C. Loves Dilla band, The Players.
July 10 from 8 p.m.-midnight at the Howard Theatre, 620 T St. NW. A VIP reception begins at 7 p.m. and after party from midnight-3 a.m. with Grammy Award winner 9th Wonder and DJ Spinna. A ticket to the concert and after party is $50. General admission tickets may also be available at the box office for the concert only for $45 the day of the concert.
Sports Family Festival

The National Portrait Gallery’s Kogod Courtyard will be filled with athletes, balls and kids on Saturday. (Photo: Wikimedia)
Got game? Join some of the DMV’s favorite teams for a day of activities including basketball “shoot arounds” with the Washington Mystics and a change to practice your shots on goal with D.C. United at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery’s Sports Family Festival. Get your photo taken with Washington Nationals’ Racing Presidents or D.C. United mascot Talon the Eagle, then decorate your own frame for your photo. DJ Harry Hotter will be spinning tunes to get the whole family up and moving.
July 11 from 11:30 a.m.-3 p.m. at the Kogod Courtyard at the National Portrait Gallery, Eighth and F Streets NW. Admission is FREE!
French Festival

Hillwood Estate Museum and Gardens will have a French Festival on Saturday. (Photo: Hillwood Estate Museum and Gardens)
Celebrate Bastille Day and Hillwood Estate Museum and Gardens’ founder Marjorie Merriweather Post’s passion for 18th Century French decorative arts at Saturday’s French Festival. Enjoy live dance and music performances by New York Baroque Dance Co. and Kevin Shannon; join in the whimsical antics of fictitious French Nobles performed by Happenstance Theater; take part in French-inspired games and art projects; admire the exquisite collection of 18th-century French decorative arts; and explore Hillwood’s summer gardens, including the French Parterre.
July 11 from 9:30 a.m.-7 p.m. at Hillwood Estate Museum and Gardens, 4155 Linnean Ave. NW. Tickets are $18 for adults, $15 for seniors, $12 for Hillwood and Alliance Francasie members, $10 for college students $5 for children 6-18 and free for children under 6.
Bastille Day party
L’Enfant Café’s 11th annual Bastille Day party, a cultural celebration of all things French, is moving to sister venue Wunder Garten, the all new beer garden space in NoMa. Entertainment includes can-can dancers, a New Orleans style brass marching band, burlesque dancers and the royal guests of honor, King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette. The signature folly of the event, the world-famous French Maid Relay Race, in which male and female racers wear a risqué black and white maid costume while running back and forth across the street in order to fill a Champagne glass with soup spoons of water, will take place at approximately 6 p.m.. Contenders must pre-purchase a costume, with ticket purchase, before the limited supply is sold out. There will also be live DJs and musical guests. Throughout the event, revelers have the option to sip Stella Artois or enjoy Leffe, Stella Cidre, red and white wine and Champagne.D.C. Slices and Crepes Parfait food trucks will be on hand.
July 11 from 3-10 p.m. at Wunder Garten, 150 M St NE. Admission is $7. Advance purchase is required. in advance.
Free mini ice cream cones

Get a free 3-inch mini cone to celebrate Ice Cream Jubilee’s first anniversary on Sunday. (Photo: Ice Cream Jubilee)
Ice Cream Jubilee is celebrating its first anniversary by giving away free mini cones from its ice cream cart near Yards Park. Anyone who visits the shop before 2 p.m. and says “Happy Birthday!” will receive a 3-inch mini cone.
July 12 from 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m. at Ice Cream Jubilee, 301 Water St. SE. FREE!
Movies on the Potomac
National Harbor’s Movies on the Potomac will show Journey to the Center of the Earth on the Plaza’s big screen. Pack your blankets, grab food to go from one of the many restaurants and watch a free movie with a view of the Potomac. July’s theme is Jungle Adventure.
July 5 at 6 p.m. at National Harbor’s Plaza, across from the Pees & Co. store, , 150 National Plaza. Admission is FREE, but parking is $3 for the first hour, $5 for 1-2 hours and $10 for 2-4 hours.
Fort Reno
Despite another year of financial woes, Fort Reno isn’t going anywhere. The free summer concert series – which began in 1968 and has featured performances from Fugazi The Dismemberment Plan and Q and Not U – was pulled back from the brink of cancellation this year thanks to last-minute donations. A garage pop sound dominates Monday’s concert featuring Teen Liver, Spirit Plots and Notaries Public. Thursday’s concert features riff-heavy rock with Wanted Man, Afraor and the Delanos.
Mondays and Thursdays through July 27 from 7-9:30 p.m. at Fort Reno Park, 3800 Donaldson Place NW. Admission is FREE!