As mild autumn weather settles over the capital, Washington is taking full advantage with some of the year’s largest outdoor traditions, signature street festivals, and fall gatherings.
From 35,000 runners taking over the National Mall for the 42nd annual Army Ten-Miler to four downtown blocks transforming into the massive Snallygaster craft beer festival, the city is pulsing with high-energy seasonal events. Add in sunset wine tastings along the Potomac at Mount Vernon, and this weekend offers an ideal mix of fall heritage and community spectacle. Here are 73 highlight events worth knowing about this weekend. For a full look at what’s happening in the area, browse the Washington Times DC Events Calendar.
Don’t forget to check the weather forecast before you head out. Forecasters are expecting Sunday to be a wet one as remnants of Isaias impact the region. If you’re planning to attend an outdoor event, we recommend visiting the event website for updates.
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Theater & Performing Arts
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom — August Wilson’s landmark drama about a fraught 1927 Chicago recording session, directed by Lili-Anne Brown, opening Round House’s 50th-anniversary season (co-production with Olney). More Info →
Through October 18, 2026 | Round House Theatre | Tickets Required
Come From Away — The Tony Award-winning musical tells the heartwarming true story of a small Canadian town that cared for 6,579 stranded airline passengers on September 11, 2001. More Info →
Through October 18, 2026 | Ford’s Theatre | Tickets Required
Some Like It Hot — The Tony-winning Broadway musical comedy in its first regional production, inaugurating Olney’s new Bernard Family Theatre. More Info →
Through November 8, 2026 | Olney Theatre Center — Bernard Family Theatre | Tickets Required
Measure for Measure — Shakespeare’s problem play opens Folger Theatre’s 2026-27 season. More Info →
Through November 1, 2026 | Folger Theatre | Tickets Required
Wish You Were Here — Sanaz Toossi’s play follows Salme and her four closest friends from a 1978 wedding in Karaj, Iran, through a decade of revolution and departure. More Info →
Through November 1, 2026 | Studio Theatre — Mead Theatre | Tickets Required
Theatre Week — Theatre Washington’s regionwide discount ticket run, covering dozens of productions at flat $20/$40/$60 prices. More Info →
Through October 11, 2026 | Venues across DC, MD & VA | From $20
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom: The Musical — Musical adaptation of the beloved alphabet picture book, opening Imagination Stage’s season (ages 3–9). More Info →
Through October 18, 2026 | Imagination Stage, Bethesda, MD | Tickets Required
Coming to America: An Immigrant Cabaret — A cabaret of songs and stories drawn from immigrant experience. More Info →
Through October 18, 2026 | ExPats Theatre at Atlas Performing Arts Center | Tickets Required
Nikola: A New Musical — A world-premiere musical about inventor Nikola Tesla, with book, music, and lyrics by Nikko Benson and Benjamin Halstead, directed by Marshall Pailet. More Info →
Through November 29, 2026 | Arena Stage — Kreeger Theater | From $59
The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk — DC premiere of Daniel Jamieson’s music-and-movement piece about Marc and Bella Chagall’s love story through the Russian Revolution. More Info →
Through November 1, 2026 | Theater J, Edlavitch DCJCC | Tickets Required
Sleepy Hollow — Synetic Theater’s wordless, movement-based gothic-horror adaptation of the Washington Irving classic — well-timed for Halloween. More Info →
Through November 1, 2026 | Olney Theatre Center — Mulitz-Gudelsky Theatre Lab (a Synetic Theater production) | Tickets Required
Betrayal — Harold Pinter’s reverse-chronology drama of an affair, directed by Alex Levy. More Info →
Through October 25, 2026 | 1st Stage, Tysons, VA | Tickets Required
Frida…A Self-Portrait — A solo work about artist Frida Kahlo, written and performed by Vanessa Severo, directed by Joanie Schultz. More Info →
Through November 8, 2026 | Shakespeare Theatre Company — Klein Theatre | Tickets Required
Hundred Days — DC premiere of the Bengsons’ autobiographical folk-punk musical about falling in love and living as if you had only 100 days left. More Info →
Oct 10 – Nov 15, 2026 | The Keegan Theatre | Tickets Required
The Fruits of Our Labor (Step Afrika!) — Step Afrika! brings its percussive-dance production rooted in the African American tradition of stepping to Arena Stage. More Info →
Through November 1, 2026 | Arena Stage — Fichandler Stage | Tickets Required
The Latinx Movement Festival DC — A weekend festival of Latinx choreographers and companies from across the DMV. More Info →
Oct 9–11, 2026 | Dance Place | Tickets Required
Music & Concerts
Kennedy Center: Free Millennium Stage — The Kennedy Center Millennium Stage offers free performances Wednesday through Saturday at 6 PM in the Grand Foyer — music, dance, and theater from local and national artists. Performance Schedule →
Through December 31, 2026 | Kennedy Center Grand Foyer | Free
Bright Eyes — Conor Oberst’s Bright Eyes headlines the 9:30 Club with Lullaby For The Working Class. More Info →
Oct 9, 2026 | 9:30 Club | Tickets Required
NSO: Triumph — Noseda Conducts Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5 — Stravinsky’s Scènes de ballet and Haydn’s “La Reine” lead into Prokofiev’s wartime Fifth Symphony. More Info →
Oct 10, 2026, 8 PM | Music Center at Strathmore | Tickets Required
Jessie Ware: The Superbloom Tour — The British pop/disco singer behind “What’s Your Pleasure?” headlines in support of new material. More Info →
Oct 10, 2026 | The Anthem | Tickets Required
Sports
Washington Capitals vs. New York Rangers — The Capitals host the New York Rangers early in the 2026-27 season. More Info →
Oct 9, 2026 | Capital One Arena | Tickets Required
USWNT vs. Spain — The Olympic champion U.S. More Info →
Oct 10, 2026, 2:30 PM | Audi Field | Tickets Required
Army Ten-Miler 2026 — One of the country’s largest 10-mile road races, drawing roughly 35,000 runners past the National Mall monuments in its 42nd year. More Info →
Oct 11, 2026 | Start/finish at the Pentagon, Arlington, VA | Free to spectate
Festivals & Free Events
Mount Vernon Fall Wine Festival & Sunset Tour — Unlimited tastings from Virginia wineries on the east lawn overlooking the Potomac, after hours at Washington’s estate. More Info →
Oct 9–11, 2026, 6–9 PM | George Washington’s Mount Vernon, VA | From $51
Snallygaster Beer Festival 2026 — The East Coast’s largest beer festival, in its 14th year, pouring 450+ rare craft beers from 175 producers across four downtown blocks. More Info →
Oct 10, 2026 (12–6 PM) | Pennsylvania Ave NW (3rd–7th Sts), Downtown DC | Tickets Required
Museums & Exhibitions
A South Forty: Contemporary Architecture and Design in the American South — Surveys place-based contemporary Southern architecture and civic design from 1990 onward, attentive to climate, materials, and labor. More Info →
Through December 31, 2026 | National Building Museum | From $19
Adam Pendleton: Love, Queen — A major solo exhibition by celebrated American artist Adam Pendleton at the Hirshhorn Museum, exploring themes of Blackness, abstraction, and language through paintings, videos, and installations. Museum Info →
Through January 3, 2027 | Hirshhorn Museum | Free
Coming Together: Reimagining the American Downtown — Explores how U.S. More Info →
Through November 30, 2026 | National Building Museum | From $19
America’s Presidents — The National Portrait Gallery’s signature exhibition of presidential portraits, tracing American leadership from George Washington to the present. Gallery Hours →
Through December 31, 2026 | National Portrait Gallery | Free
National Museum of African American History: Power of Place — The newest Smithsonian museum presents Power of Place — a landmark exhibition exploring how African American communities have shaped and been shaped by the places they call home. Reserve Passes →
Through December 31, 2026 | National Museum of African American History and Culture | Free (timed passes required)
International Spy Museum — The world most visited spy museum explores the real world of espionage through immersive exhibitions, artifact-packed galleries, and hands-on experiences across 140,000 square feet. Get Tickets →
Through December 31, 2026 | International Spy Museum | From $24.95
Holocaust Museum: Americans and the Holocaust — A powerful permanent exhibition examining the American response to Nazism and the refugee crisis of the 1930s and 1940s. More Info →
Through December 31, 2026 | United States Holocaust Memorial Museum | Free (timed passes recommended)
Clifford Ross: Digital Waves — Installed on a 23-foot-high screen in the West Building’s Rotunda, this immersive digital work builds waves from millions of glowing pixels, juxtaposing virtual water with the neoclassical space and its iconic fountain. More Info →
Through October 18, 2026 | National Gallery of Art | Free
Nick Cave: Mammoth — Internationally renowned artist Nick Cave explores the entanglement of land and race in American consciousness. Museum Info →
Through January 3, 2027 | Smithsonian American Art Museum | Free
Star Power: Hollywood Photographs by George Hurrell (A Sequel) — Following the success of the first installment, the National Portrait Gallery presents a sequel exhibition of George Hurrell’s iconic Hollywood glamour photographs from the Golden Age of cinema. Gallery Info →
Through January 10, 2027 | National Portrait Gallery | Free
Carlotta Corpron: Light Is a Plastic Medium — A career survey of pioneering American abstract photographer Carlotta Corpron (1901–1988), drawn largely from a recent gift to the Hirshhorn. More Info →
Through January 31, 2027 | Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden | Free
The Tuskegee Chapel: Paul Rudolph x Fry & Welch — Examines the design and cultural significance of Tuskegee University’s landmark chapel, with models, masonry replicas, Ezra Stoller photography, and a robotically-laid brick sculpture. More Info →
Through December 31, 2026 | National Building Museum | From $19
A Better Life for Their Children — Chronicles the extraordinary partnership between Sears Roebuck founder Julius Rosenwald and Booker T. Museum Info →
Through January 31, 2027 | National Building Museum | Admission Required
Camouflage: Designed to Deceive — An immersive exhibit tracing camouflage from nature to the battlefield, connecting biological deception to espionage and modern military design (included with admission). More Info →
Through January 31, 2029 | International Spy Museum | Tickets Required
Busy Bliss: A Collector’s Passion — A Special Exhibitions Gallery show drawn from a collector’s passion, on view throughout fall 2026. More Info →
Through February 28, 2027 | Dumbarton Oaks | Free
Insular Horizons: Travel and the Environmental Imagination on Crete, 1598–1845 — A Rare Books Gallery exhibition examining travel and the environmental imagination on the island of Crete across three centuries. More Info →
Through April 30, 2027 | Dumbarton Oaks | Free
America’s State Flowers — The U.S. Garden Info →
Through October 12, 2026 | U.S. Botanic Garden | Free
Sky Hopinka: Kicking the Clouds — Through photographs, poems, and film, Indigenous artist Sky Hopinka connects family, language, place, and lived Native American experience in this solo presentation at the National Gallery. More Info →
Through December 6, 2026 | National Gallery of Art | Free
¡Puro Ritmo! The Musical Journey of Salsa — A new exhibition at the National Museum of the American Latino tracing the origins and cultural journey of salsa music and dance across Latin America, New York, and beyond. Museum Info →
Through October 18, 2028 | National Museum of the American Latino (in NMAH building) | Free
Free and Independent: A Celebration of the Declaration — A major special exhibition at the National Archives Museum explores the story behind the Declaration of Independence — how it came to be, how it has been preserved for 250 years, and how the U.S. More Info →
Through July 5, 2027 | National Archives Museum | Free
Bison: Standing Strong — A major Smithsonian exhibition on the American bison with an immersive prairie soundscape and three larger-than-life bronze bison sculptures outside. Museum Info →
Through May 1, 2029 | National Museum of Natural History | Free
In Pursuit of Life, Liberty & Happiness — The Smithsonian’s America250 centerpiece: 250 objects spanning the nation’s full 250-year history across all three floors, including the original Star-Spangled Banner and Thomas Jefferson’s writing desk (note: on display at the Smithsonian Castle Jun 2–Jul 26; a reproduction shown in its place during that period). More Info →
Through December 31, 2026 | National Museum of American History | Free
Stretching the Canvas: Ten Decades of Native Painting — A survey of 100 years of Native painting — 50+ works by 46 artists — tracing how Native painters redefined Native art from the post–WWI era onward. More Info →
Through May 1, 2027 | National Museum of the American Indian | Free
American Icon: The US Flag in Art — Over 30 works from the late 1800s through today illustrating changing American interpretations of the flag, opening as part of the NGA’s America 250 programming on the same day as the gallery’s massive Block Party event. Gallery Info →
Through December 6, 2026 | National Gallery of Art, East Building | Free
Revelation: A Journey into Abstraction — Explores abstract art by African American artists from the mid-20th century to today — 41 works by 38 artists including Alma Thomas, Gordon Parks, and Simone Leigh. More Info →
Through June 12, 2027 | National Museum of African American History and Culture | Free (timed passes required)
Reset: Abstraction Embodied in Design — A companion design show presenting abstract objects — chairs, rugs, textiles, lighting — by contemporary Black designers. More Info →
Through June 12, 2027 | National Museum of African American History and Culture | Free (timed passes required)
From These Lands: Sharing Our Natural and Cultural Heritage — A 250th-anniversary exhibition of 600+ specimens and cultural objects representing all 50 states, DC, and five territories, exploring where natural and cultural history meet. More Info →
Through December 31, 2029 | National Museum of Natural History | Free
The Spirit of Invention: Patent Office and Patentees — Timed with the U.S. More Info →
Through June 6, 2027 | National Portrait Gallery | Free
The Declaration’s Promise — Opening in the David M. More Info →
Through January 8, 2027 | Library of Congress | Free
National Air & Space Museum: 50th Anniversary Galleries — Five major new galleries open simultaneously on the museum’s 50th birthday, including the Flight and the Arts Center — whose inaugural exhibition features 30 works by Robert Rauschenberg (on his centennial) exploring the artist’s relationship with NASA and aviation. Museum Info →
Through June 1, 2027 | National Air and Space Museum | Free
Shahzia Sikander: The Last Post — A video work using Indo-Persian miniature-painting vocabulary to interrogate the legacy of British colonialism in Asia. More Info →
Through November 8, 2026 | Smithsonian American Art Museum | Free
From the Vault: Art About America — Rarely shown collection works for the semiquincentennial, including George Washington portraits and colonial clergy paintings. More Info →
Through October 11, 2026 | Museum of the Bible | Tickets Required
The Megiddo Mosaic: Foundations of Faith — The third-century Megiddo mosaic, whose inscriptions are among the earliest physical evidence of Christian worship. More Info →
Through December 31, 2026 | Museum of the Bible | Free
Marlo Pascual: Making Something Out of Something — Pascual recontextualizes anonymous vintage photographs and found objects into sculptural tableaux. More Info →
Through February 28, 2027 | National Museum of Women in the Arts | Tickets Required
Sacred Liberty — How biblical texts and ideas shaped the American founding era. More Info →
Through February 28, 2027 | Museum of the Bible | Free
The Bible in Times of War — Military Bibles from America’s major conflicts paired with soldiers’ first-person accounts. More Info →
Through February 28, 2027 | Museum of the Bible | Tickets Required
Hestia Fragmented — A textile-gallery installation built around the museum’s fragmentary Hestia tapestry. More Info →
Through October 11, 2026 | Dumbarton Oaks — Textile Gallery | Free
Hispanic Heritage Month at the Molina Family Latino Gallery — Guided tours of “¡Puro Ritmo! The Musical Journey of Salsa” plus Hispanic Heritage Month programming across Smithsonian museums. More Info →
Through October 15, 2026 | National Museum of American History | Free
Much Here Is Beautiful: Photography Surveys of the U.S. Bicentennial — Photographs documenting communities across the United States during the nation’s bicentennial era, exploring how Americans defined themselves and their country. Learn More →
Through April 18, 2027 | Smithsonian American Art Museum | Free
Routed West: Twentieth-Century African American Quilts in California — More than 80 quilts tracing how Second Great Migration families carried textile traditions west. More Info →
Through January 17, 2027 | National Museum of Women in the Arts | Tickets Required
Special Events
DC250 Programming — DC serves as the epicenter for America’s semiquincentennial celebration with special programming, exhibitions, and events. DC250 Info →
Through December 31, 2026 | Various Locations | Varies
Moonshot Studio at the REACH — A hands-on, drop-in art-making studio at the REACH celebrating creativity for all ages (recommended 5+), open most weekends. More Info →
Through October 31, 2026 | Kennedy Center REACH | Free
DC Farmers Markets — DC vibrant farmers market scene runs year-round. Market Locations →
Through December 31, 2026 | Various DC Neighborhoods | Free Entry
Eastern Market — Historic public market with local farmers, artisans, and crafters. Market Info →
Through December 31, 2026 | Eastern Market, Capitol Hill | Free Entry
Georgetown Waterfront — Stroll the C&O Canal towpath, explore boutique shopping, and dine at waterfront restaurants with Potomac River views. Georgetown Info →
Through December 31, 2026 | Georgetown | Free
Tidal Basin & Cherry Trees — Nearly 4,000 cherry trees surround the Tidal Basin near the Jefferson, FDR, and MLK Memorials. NPS Cherry Blossom Info →
Through December 31, 2026 | Tidal Basin | Free
Meridian Hill Park Drum Circle — Every Sunday afternoon, Meridian Hill Park hosts one of DC most enduring community traditions — a spontaneous drum circle drawing dozens of drummers and hundreds of participants. Park Info →
Through December 31, 2026 | Meridian Hill Park (Malcolm X Park) | Free
National Geographic Museum of Exploration — Grand Opening — The brand-new 100,000-square-foot National Geographic Museum of Exploration opens June 26 at the organization’s historic DC campus. More Info →
Through December 31, 2026 | National Geographic Society HQ, 1600 M St NW | From $22.99
Event dates, times, and prices are subject to change. Please verify details directly with venues before attending.
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