Every October somebody at the front desk asks us where to go for a quiet afternoon that still feels like DC. This Saturday we have an easy answer. Tregaron Unplugged fills the old Tregaron estate in Cleveland Park with live music from 1 to 3 p.m., and it’s free.
Washington Performing Arts and Mars Arts D.C. spread the performers across the grounds, so you wander from one to the next instead of sitting in rows. The Johnny Walker Jr. quartet plays jazz on Shipman Terrace. The Deepak Ram Trio does Hindustani flute on the South Lawn. Over in the North Meadow, Ni Dembaya leads West African drumming and dance that kids and grown-ups can jump into. Sadie Kane sings acoustic sets in the East Meadow from 1 to 1:30, and then Dante Bank takes over the same spot for yoga and a sound bath until 3.
Our favorite piece is the strangest one. Chromic made a GPS soundwalk called Shimmers in the Field, a toy-piano score that plays on your phone as you walk. Guides start a group every 30 minutes at the Klingle Valley Trail entrance. With the leaves turning, the woods down there crunch underfoot and the drums carry up from the meadow. It’s a nice way to spend a Saturday.
The one thing you have to do: register. It’s free, but advance registration is required, and you do it on the event page. Bring a blanket if you want to settle in on a lawn, and wear shoes you don’t mind getting muddy.
Getting there from the hostel: take the Green Line from U St/African-American Civil War Memorial/Cardozo to Gallery Place-Chinatown, switch to the Red Line toward Shady Grove, and get off at Cleveland Park. The main gate is at 3100 Macomb Street NW, one long block west of Connecticut Avenue. Give yourself about 40 minutes door to door, and grab an espresso and an empanada at Brew On U downstairs before you go.
More to do this week
- Howard Homecoming, Fri Oct 16 & Sat Oct 17. Our neighbors up Georgia Avenue are celebrating. Yardfest starts Friday at noon on The Yard, Day 2 runs noon to 3:30 Saturday, and Howard plays Morehouse at Greene Stadium at 3:30 p.m. Saturday. Yardfest needs registration through Howard and the game is ticketed, with prices on Howard Athletics’ ticket page. Full schedule: homecoming.howard.edu.
- Last days of Passport to Patriotism, through Sun Oct 18. Free show at the Art Museum of the Americas (201 18th St NW) with work by more than 30 U.S. artists, presented by the Office of Art in Embassies. Open Tuesday to Sunday, but it closes for lunch from 1 to 1:30. Details.
- Marine Corps Marathon, Sun Oct 25. Not this week, but plan now if you want to cheer. Watching is free; the runners pass the Lincoln Memorial and the National Mall, and Crystal City is a good place to watch late in the race. From here, take the Green Line to L’Enfant Plaza and change to the Yellow Line. Metro opens at 5 a.m. that day. Official viewing guide.
If friends are flying in for Homecoming or the marathon, we’ve still got capsules and private rooms: book direct here and check in with GOKI whenever you land.
Top photo: Danielle G. Campbell / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0 (source)