What festivals are happening in Washington DC this weekend
The weekend of October 24 to 25 brings the final days of the Maryland Renaissance Festival in Crownsville, the Smithsonian's Air & Scare at Udvar-Hazy in Chantilly, ongoing DC250 events across the city, and the Kennedy Center's free Moonshot Studio at the REACH. Here is what to know before you go.
In brief
The weekend of October 24 to 25 is the last chance to catch the Maryland Renaissance Festival in Crownsville, Maryland, in its 50th season. The Smithsonian's free Air & Scare Halloween event also runs Saturday the 24th at the Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia. DC250 programming continues at venues across the city, and the Kennedy Center's Moonshot Studio stays open at the REACH through the end of the month.
Festival by festival: what's on and what it costs
Maryland Renaissance Festival, Crownsville, MD, Oct. 24 and 25
The festival runs its final two days October 24 and 25, open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. at Revel Grove, the fictional English village in Crownsville, Maryland. This is the 50th season.
Every weekend in October runs under the "Harvest Hollow" banner, with autumn decorations and seasonal performances woven into the village. If you want the festival at its most atmospheric, fall foliage and seasonal décor mixed into the usual Tudor setting, this is the stretch to target.
More than 200 performers fill ten stages, taverns, and streets with continuous entertainment. A 3,000-seat jousting arena hosts authentic combat joust three times daily. Adult tickets (ages 16 to 61) are $31. Seniors 62 and older pay $27. Children ages 7 to 15 are $17. Children 6 and under get in free but still need a ticket. Tickets are not sold at the festival gate, buy in advance at rennfest.com. The festival releases a limited number of last-minute tickets before each upcoming weekend, so check the waitlist if the dates show sold out.
Air & Scare, Udvar-Hazy Center, Chantilly, VA, Saturday, Oct. 24
The Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum hosts its annual "Air & Scare" family day from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 24, at its Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia. Outdoor tickets are sold out. Indoor activities require no ticket.
Admission is free, but parking is $15 until 4 p.m. Public transportation is also available via Metro's Silver Line and the Fairfax Connector bus. Costumes are encouraged. The museum prohibits Halloween masks inside and does not permit real or toy weapons anywhere on site. Most families drive from DC in 40 to 60 minutes depending on traffic. The address is 14390 Air and Space Museum Parkway, Chantilly, VA 20151.
DC250 events, ongoing through December 31
DC250 programming runs through December 31, 2026, at various locations across the city, with special exhibitions, events, and other programming tied to America's 250th anniversary celebration. Check the DC250 website for the current weekend schedule.
Moonshot Studio at the REACH, through Oct. 31, free
The Kennedy Center's Moonshot Studio is a hands-on, drop-in art-making studio at the REACH, open most weekends through October 31 and recommended for ages 5 and up. Admission is free. The REACH is at 2700 F Street NW.
Events that already happened this month
A few big ones are worth flagging because search results keep surfacing them. The DC Turkish Festival ran on October 18, 11 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., along Pennsylvania Avenue NW and was free. The festival filled Pennsylvania Avenue with folk dancers, concerts ranging from Turkish rock to folk, Turkish coffee and tea demos, and a bazaar with food and artisanal goods. It does not return until 2027.
Boo at the Zoo ran October 16 to 18, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., at the Smithsonian's National Zoo, 3001 Connecticut Ave. NW. Tickets were $35 per person. The event has ended for the year.
Coming up: Adams Morgan Fall PorchFest, Nov. 7
If you missed this weekend's options, mark your calendar. The Adams Morgan Fall PorchFest takes place November 7, with more than 100 bands from noon to 5 p.m. The format is free: makeshift stages, many of them literal front porches, host performances, and attendees can walk between them. D.C. officials say they will enforce open-container laws this time in light of the huge turnout for the spring festival.
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CAN I KICK IT? screens New Jack City at the Sylvan Theater, Washington Monument, on Aug. 22. (Courtesy SHAOLIN JAZZ)
The live-cinema series CAN I KICK IT? returns to the National Mall this month with what its producers are calling the "Gangsters on the Mall" chapter of their free outdoor summer run. On Saturday, August 22, the SHAOLIN JAZZ production brings the 1991 crime classic New Jack City to the Sylvan Theater at the Washington Monument for a night of film, music, and community under the DC summer sky.
What sets the event apart is the sound. As the film plays, DJ 2-Tone Jones builds an original score in real time, reimagining one of the most iconic crime movies of the ’90s through hip-hop, soul, funk, and more. It is less a movie screening than a live performance built around the film.
The details:
Film: New Jack City (1991), with a live soundtrack by DJ 2-Tone Jones
When: Saturday, August 22 — seating opens at 7:30 p.m. (bring lawn chairs and blankets); film begins at 8:30 p.m.
Where: Sylvan Theater at the Washington Monument, Independence Ave SW & 15th St NW
A parking note from the organizers: expect road closures and restricted parking east of 14th Street NW due to a separate race event in the District. Roads west of 14th Street NW will be accessible and available for parking.
New Jack City is the second of three screenings in this year’s free CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series, which opened with Black Panther at Skyland Town Center and concludes with Scarface at the Lincoln Memorial on September 5. Produced by the Washington, DC-based multimedia arts company SHAOLIN JAZZ, the series has presented more than 150 live cinematic experiences at venues across the country, from Lincoln Center to SXSW.
"I wanted to be able to tell good stories with substance and remove the ‘ego’ out of the art," said Andrew Huang during a recent interview. Now, he’s building his career at the intersection of discipline, creativity and innovation.
Andrew Huang, founder of New Place Studios. (Courtesy photo)
As a Chinese American, Huang was reared with a deep respect for hard work, consistency and excellence. He describes his childhood as "not so affluent" and later attended college to hone his passion for videography. "In college I tried to do something I loved, which was video, but along the way I knew that I had to find a job. And so I thought, ‘what was the low hanging fruit to get to that stable 9 to 5 job?,’" he stated.
Later in life, Huang found himself working for corporations where his creativity was often limited, eventually leading to burnout. "I worked in a corporation for a long time and there were a lot of missing pieces. I wanted to fill in gaps missing in corporate video production," said Huang.
He later described how his upbringing and a mindset of "survival" led him toward a corporate career. However, his desire for balance and authentic storytelling ultimately pushed him to take the entrepreneurial leap.
"I founded a new place where you can create video and film with ‘substance and style,’" said Huang. His desire for work-life balance and passion for storytelling naturally evolved into a small business based in Virginia. With the launch of New Place Studios, the entrepreneur quickly found himself reconnecting with the values that would become the foundation of everything he creates behind the camera.
Huang said being a business owner has allowed him to first embrace himself. While others may see video as simply capturing moments, he sees it as a way to preserve stories that inspire, connect and leave a lasting imprint.
By combining cinematic visuals with cutting-edge production techniques and a keen understanding of branding, Huang helps organizations and individuals communicate their vision with purpose. He said understanding a client’s "why" serves as the compass for delivering the services they need.
One benefit of working with a small business, he said, is that clients get to see the production process unfold through a micro lens while working with the same faces throughout the entire project. "The work feels personal," said Huang.
Huang does not regret leaving behind the flash-over-substance mentality and corporate hustle culture. That does not mean the Asian American entrepreneur has been without challenges in the industry. "It’s relatively hard to find other Asian American creatives or people who would want to work with me in the DMV," said Huang.
He identifies the industry culture in which everyone is trying to blend in, creatives may fear displaying their Asian identity and some feel pressure to adopt an American corporate persona. He also points to what he describes as a level of gatekeeping within the industry. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration’s 2024 statistics, Asian American and Pacific Islander entrepreneurs own more than 3 million businesses and employ 5.2 million people in the United States.
After tapping into organizations such as SCORE, which offers free small business mentorship, New Place Studios has become a trusted creative partner throughout the DMV (Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia). The company produces a range of creative services, including commercials, corporate branding, documentaries, film, 2D animation, motion graphics and photography.
For Huang, entrepreneurship has become more than a departure from corporate life. It has given him the freedom to create with intention, build meaningful connections and tell stories that go beyond the surface.
The 2026 CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series. Poster courtesy of SHAOLIN JAZZ.
For three Saturdays this summer, some of Washington’s most familiar public spaces will do something they rarely do after dark: fill up with blankets, lawn chairs, and the sound of a movie being scored live, in real time. CAN I KICK IT?, the traveling “live cinema” series produced by the DC-based multimedia arts company SHAOLIN JAZZ, is bringing a free outdoor run to the city — pairing three era-defining films with an original soundtrack performed on the spot by DJ 2-Tone Jones.
The premise is what sets it apart from a normal screening in the park. Rather than simply pressing play, 2-Tone Jones builds a score as the film unfolds, pulling from hip-hop, soul, funk, jazz, rock, electronic music, and sounds from around the world. The result, the organizers say, is less a movie night than a one-time performance — the same film you know, wired to a soundtrack you have never heard and will not hear again. Guest DJs warm up the crowd starting at 7:30 PM before each 8:30 PM screening.
The 2026 outdoor schedule
All three events are free and open to the public.
Saturday, August 8 — Black Panther at Skyland Town Center. A pop-up marketplace and community activities kick off the evening; guest DJs at 7:30 PM, film at 8:30 PM. Marvel’s superhero epic gets a one-night-only live score in Southeast DC.
Saturday, August 22 — New Jack City at the Sylvan Theater, Washington Monument. Seating begins at 7:30 PM; the film starts at 8:30 PM. The 1991 crime drama plays out at the foot of one of the country’s most recognizable landmarks.
Saturday, September 5 — Scarface at the Lincoln Memorial. Seating at 7:30 PM; film at 8:30 PM. The series closes with Brian De Palma’s crime saga against the backdrop of the Memorial, scored live from start to finish.
First up: Black Panther at Skyland Town Center on August 8. Poster courtesy of SHAOLIN JAZZ.
A DC company with a national footprint
SHAOLIN JAZZ describes itself as a Washington-based arts company working at the intersection of music, film, art, and culture, and CAN I KICK IT? is its signature production. According to the organizers, the series has staged more than 150 live cinematic experiences around the country — at performing arts centers, museums, festivals, and cultural institutions including Lincoln Center in New York, SXSW, the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Republic Square in Austin, the Tacoma Armory, and The Cary Theater.
“CAN I KICK IT? has always been about creating a shared experience,” said Gerald Watson, co-founder of SHAOLIN JAZZ. “When you combine iconic films with live music in public spaces, something special happens. People aren’t just watching a movie — they’re experiencing it together. That’s what makes these nights so memorable.”
Cinema as a community event
The DC run lands as cities across the country look for new ways to activate public space through arts and culture — and this series is a straightforward pitch for how to do it: take a landmark everyone already knows, add a film everyone has an opinion about, and let a live soundtrack turn the evening into something neighbors experience shoulder to shoulder. Families, film buffs, and music fans are all invited, and admission won’t cost a thing.
The CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series runs August 8, August 22, and September 5. All events are free; check SHAOLIN JAZZ (shaolinjazz.com) for the latest details and any weather updates before heading out.
