What To Do This Weekend in the DMV

Looking for things to do this weekend in the DMV? The first weekend of October is one of the fall's fullest: Olivia Rodrigo plays Capital One Arena twice, the 45th annual Takoma Park Street Festival takes over Carroll Avenue on Sunday, an Oktoberfest lands on the waterfront at The Wharf, and Art on the Avenue fills Mount Vernon Avenue in Del Ray with hundreds of artists. Here is the day-by-day guide to October 2 through 4.

Friday, October 2

The weekend opens downtown, where Weezer brings its tour to Capital One Arena in Washington's Chinatown at 7 PM, with The Shins and Silversun Pickups along for the ride. It is a three-band night for fans of 1990s and 2000s alternative rock, and tickets are on the Capital One Arena schedule at Live Nation. The same venue hosts Olivia Rodrigo on both Saturday and Sunday, so expect the streets around Gallery Place to stay busy all weekend.

In Virginia, Chris Stapleton's All-American Road Show rolls into Jiffy Lube Live in Bristow at 7:30 PM with Mike Campbell and The Dirty Knobs opening. His full touring schedule is on Chris Stapleton's official site. For an earlier evening with little ones, the National Air and Space Museum opens One World, One Sky: Big Bird's Adventure, a planetarium show for young children that starts October 1 and runs through the month. Washington.org's October events calendar has the full museum lineup for the weekend.

Saturday, October 3

Saturday afternoon, the free Oktoberfest at The Wharf returns to District Pier from 2 to 5 PM with live music, a Sam Adams stein-hoisting competition, and the Wiener 500 dachshund dash, the city's most reliably entertaining race of the fall. The festival sits on the Southwest Waterfront between the marina and the riverwalk, and The Wharf's events calendar lists it alongside the rest of the weekend's programming.

Across the Potomac, the Rosslyn Fall Fest fills the new NOW Pop-Up Park at 1401 Wilson Boulevard from 1 to 6 PM with cider, pumpkin decorating, live music, and family activities, and North Oak Street closes for the party. Rosslyn is one of the many neighborhoods inside the city of Arlington, which is home to more than 250,000 residents. Event details are on the Rosslyn Fall Fest listing. If Rosslyn's walk-to-Metro balance is your style, Claude's Arlington guide covers the city's neighborhoods, schools, and commute options.

In the Del Ray neighborhood of the city of Alexandria, Art on the Avenue takes over Mount Vernon Avenue with more than 300 artists and makers selling painting, ceramics, jewelry, and fiber, plus live music, food, and activities for kids along the avenue's tree-lined blocks. It is one of the region's biggest single-day arts shows, and DullesMoms' fall festival guide keeps a running list of similar events through the season. For a taste of daily life in the city's walkable districts, see Claude's Alexandria guide.

Downtown, the GLOW Block Party turns a stretch of Pennsylvania Avenue NW into an outdoor dance floor from 3 to 10 PM, headlined by Diplo with a lineup of DJs. It is a ticketed event, so grab passes in advance through the DowntownDC GLOW page. For a slower morning, the FRESHFARM Downtown Silver Spring Market runs Saturdays from 9 AM to 1 PM at Veterans Plaza, a good stop before heading up to Takoma Park.

Saturday night, Olivia Rodrigo plays the first of two Unraveled Tour shows at Capital One Arena at 7 PM, and the electronic trio Meduza headlines Echostage late. For alternative fans, grandson headlines the Power to the People Festival at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland, on Saturday evening. A running list of the weekend's concert options is in OnesToWatch's DC weekend roundup.

Sunday, October 4

Sunday is Takoma Park's big day. The 45th annual Takoma Park Street Festival packs Carroll Avenue from 10 AM to 5 PM with more than 185 vendor booths, 18 live bands on multiple stages, food trucks, and a small-town crowd that spills into the side streets. The festival is free, runs rain or shine, and is organized by Main Street Takoma, whose festival page has the stage schedule. Takoma Park sits on the Montgomery County side of the Takoma area, and Claude's Takoma guide covers the whole community on both sides of the DC line.

For families, Tinkerfest at the National Children's Museum turns Woodrow Wilson Plaza into a hands-on celebration of building and curiosity on Sunday, free with museum admission. The planetarium show at the National Air and Space Museum is another good bet, and all the Smithsonian museums on the National Mall are free as always. Washington.org's family events page rounds up the rest of the weekend's options.

The Bethesda Central Farm Market runs Sundays from 9 AM to 1:30 PM in the Bethesda Elementary School lot at 7600 Arlington Road, a year-round market for produce, baked goods, and flowers in the community of Bethesda. Claude's Bethesda guide covers the area's schools and neighborhoods. Sunday night, Schoolboy Q plays The Fillmore Silver Spring at 8 PM, Medium Build plays the 9:30 Club at 7 PM, and Outlander In Concert fills the Warner Theatre at 7:30 PM with music from the series.

Out west in Potomac, Montgomery County, Serb Fest DC runs the whole weekend and brings Serbian food, music, and dancing to the county's suburbs. With activities across all three jurisdictions, this is a good weekend to see how the DMV's cities each keep their own character, from the festival blocks of downtown Washington to the sidewalks of Del Ray, the Metro-oriented villages of Arlington, and the small-town streets of Takoma Park.

If a weekend of festivals gets you thinking about where you want to live, the region's market varies more than people expect, and Claude's county-by-county breakdown of DC, Montgomery, and Fairfax is a good place to start. Last week's weekend guide covered Fiesta DC, All Things Go, and Clarendon Day, and the buying guide walks through the full search process. A weekend of festivals is a decent preview of how a city treats its residents. Come see it for yourself.

Claude Labbe

REALTOR · Douglas Elliman · DC, MD, VA