09.24 - wheels up
what’s going on in d.c.
One of D.C.’s most loved cultural events, Art All Night, is back this Friday and Saturday across the city. Sixteen neighborhoods will host concerts, art shows, and other events throughout the night. The Shaw and H St locations look to have particularly strong lineups this year.
Celebrate Petworth, a neighborhood festival on Saturday from 11-5, will feature music, food, and a dog show featuring pups in costume.
If you’re a biker, 8 a.m. tomorrow is the start of the annual DC Bike Ride. The ride shuts down some of D.C.’s streets to offer participants 20 miles of car-free biking throughout the city.
It’s officially fall, which means we’ve entered the all-important pumpkin season. To fully immerse yourself, Maryland’s Butler’s Orchard is hosting their pumpkin festival with hayrides, slides, food, and, obviously, pick-your-own pumpkins. The event continues through Halloween. If you’re more into the scary fall variety, Field of Screams - the freaky haunted trails in Maryland - opens this weekend.
Story District, an event in which local storytellers’ share their tales, is back in person this weekend. Tomorrow’s show, at Miracle Theater in SE, focuses on comebacks, fresh starts, and turnarounds.
looking ahead: online outdoors retailer Backcountry.com is opening its first East Coast location on 14th St (in the former Martha’s Table spot) at some pint in 2022
let’s talk food and drinks
my weekly best bite: arepa rancheros at Shaw/Ledroit Park’s The Royal
The Little Wild Things City Farm off of H St NE is hosting an open house tomorrow in advance of their fall salad share. Between 10-2, the farm is offering mocktails, greens samples, and tours of the farm.
what’s on our minds?
In case you’ve missed the Dave Thomas Circle news gripping the region, this is your last week to patronize the infamous Wendy’s before it is finally forced to close as the conclusion of a years-long eminent domain saga. D.C. paid about $13M for the land, but don’t worry, Wendy’s is still feeling litigious, now employing a former Trump lawyer to sue the city for additional compensation.
One of my favorite features to peruse, the annual Washingtonian “Best Of” lists, are out. There’s the classics, like some of the best new spots to eat, as well as some more clever lists like new ways to have fun and the “13 People, Animals, and Things to Know in DC Right Now.”
Quick links to other weekly #goodreads:
Advice for a young idealist: Find a lonely cause - per Vox, “If you want to make a difference, find a neglected problem no one is working on.”
Paradise lost: The rise and ruin of Couchsurfing.com - per Input, “The once-utopian accommodations site, now headed by an alum of surveillance-analytics firm Palantir, has gone back on its always-free ethos.”
‘They Are Manufacturing Foreigners’: How India Disenfranchises Muslims - per The New York Times Magazine, “Persecution in a remote Indian province spawned Modi’s new draconian citizenship law.”
Sid Meier and the Meaning of “Civilization”- per The New Yorker, “How one video game tells the story of an industry.”
what are we watching/reading?
The Eyes of Tammy Faye in theaters. This Jessica Chastain biopic about Tammy Faye revisits the life of the infamous evangelist fraudster who, along with her husband, soared in prominence in the far right Christian movement before a sudden fall.
To fully embrace the ~spooky season~ spirit, check out one of these five new streamable horror movies.