Local cyclists will have a chance to show off their athletic skills and raise money for at-risk kids and teens during a massive bike ride this fall.
Nonprofit Run Hope Work is set to host Bike to Brooklyn, a 267-mile bike ride where cyclists will travel from BicycleSPACE (2424 18th St. NW) in Adams Morgan to Brooklyn on the weekend of Oct. 8 and 9.
Early Saturday morning, riders will start the grueling ride to New York City. Along the way, they’ll stop for food and rest, including a visit Philadelphia to meet up with more cyclists, Harrison said.
While the end goal is to ride all the way to Brooklyn, the journey doesn’t end there. Upon arriving, participants will able to enter the 13-mile Staten Island Half marathon, according to the event’s organizers.
“They’re going to be going on a ride of a lifetime,” said Kate Harrison, executive director of Run Hope Work.
Though a dozen people made the inaugural Bike to Brooklyn ride last year, at least 60 to 75 bicyclists are expected to participate this year, Harrison said.
To join the ride, cyclists must pay $200 and raise an additional $750 for Run Hope Work. If they don’t manage to raise the total amount, they will be responsible for paying the rest, Harrison said. However, Harrison added she believes the price and the risk of having to pay $750 is worth it when you factor in the included jersey, entry into the Staten Island Half Marathon, meals and planned parties.
Plus, attendees will appear in a documentary film about this year’s ride, Harrison said. And, of course, she added, they also stand to make the world a better place by raising money for at-risk kids and teens.
The organization will host training rides and open registration periods at the Ivy City BicycleSPACE (1512 Okie St. NE) throughout August and September.
Photo courtesy of Kate Harrison
Locals will be able to sample dishes from 22 Shaw eateries and bars tomorrow night.
Shaw Main Streets — which recently snagged a “Great American Main Street” award — will host a “Taste of Shaw” during its Shaw Main Streets Gala at the Howard Theatre (620 T St. NW) tomorrow night.
The event will include samples of signature food and drinks from restaurants and bars including the Columbia Room and the Passenger, Convivial, Espita Mezcaleria and Right Proper Brewing Company, among others.
Mayor Muriel Bowser and D.C. Councilmembers Charles Allen, Jack Evans, Brianne Nadeau and Vincent Orange will attend the event and help unveil a bronze plaque “that proclaims that Shaw is among the best Main Streets in the nation,” according to a press release.
Additionally, event organizers will present a “Shaw Champion Award” to Derek Brown, who owns the Columbia Room, Eat the Rich, Mockingbird Hill and Southern Efficiency.
Proceeds from the event will help support the “economic revitalization and historic preservation activities in central Shaw.”
Tickets are $80 in advance and $100 on the day of the event.
Image courtesy of Shaw Main Streets
(Update: A DeLorean will be at this event after all)
We may not be taking our hover-boards to see Jaws 19 in theaters, but later this month, Fantom Comics will hold a party to celebrate the day that Marty McFly landed in the future in the 1989 movie “Back to the Future Part II.”
The Dupont Circle comic store will hold a party on the night of Oct. 21 featuring Back to the Future costume, impression and trivia contests in celebration of Marty McFly’s arrival on Oct. 21, 2015.
Fantom owner Matthew Klokel has planned to hold a Back to the Future day party for years.
“I’ve personally been planning for this party for 12 or 13 years,” he said. “At the time I didn’t own a comic store, but I can’t think of a better venue.”
There will be a $5 cover charge for the party to help Fantom pay for its temporary liquor license so it can serve movie-themed drinks. Klokel said he plans to collaborate with a local bartender to formulate special themed drinks with names like “Biff Brew.”
One thing that won’t be at the party is a replica of the movie’s famous DeLorean time machine.
“Getting a DeLorean for Back to the Future day was going to cost five figures. I looked it up,” said Klokel. “It would be cheaper to get a Lamborghini and paint it like a DeLorean.”
Still, Klokel said he’s ready for the “hardcore committed geeks” that he hopes the party attracts, with plans to show clips of the movie and hold trivia, costume and impression contests to win gift cards to the comic store.
“Christmas comes every year but this is the only Back to the Future day,” Klokel said. “I missed the day he goes to in 1885 by almost a century, so this is really my last chance.”
More than 100 people gathered in Dupont Circle park to watch Pope Francis address Congress this morning.
Dupont Festival teamed up with NBC Washington to livestream the speech on a jumbo-sized screen in the park.
“When NBC approached us, I wasn’t sure if we could turn it around quickly enough, but we did and people seem to be very glad for that,” said Aaron DeNu, Dupont Festival’s principal organizer. “It’s a beautiful day and people are taking time out of their work day to come down to the park and see this.”
Crowds waited excitedly in front of the screen and then clapped as the pope entered the chambers.
Some attendees brought along their morning coffee and breakfasts, while other passers-by stopped briefly to hear snippets of the pope’s speech.
ANC 2B Commissioner Mike Feldstein was one of those who gathered to hear the pope speak.
“There’s a mood since he’s been here,” Feldstein said about the pope’s visit to D.C. “He’s generating a level of emotional joy that I’ve never felt before in this city. I look around, and I’ve never seen so many people smiling.”
Adams Morgan residents will be able to dress up in renaissance faire attire and guzzle mead tomorrow.
Black Squirrel (2427 18th Street NW) will host a “Men in Tights Mead Day Renaissance Faire” from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday.
Attendees will be able to taste local mead from Honey Grail Meadery as well fill their goblets with mead from Charm City Meadery, Moonlight Meadery and B. Nektar Meadery.
A representative from Honey Grail Meadery will also be on hand to talk mead making and distribute samples of the company’s Boudica’s Uprising Honey Mead.
The kitchen’s chefs will sling giant turkey legs, sandwiches and steaks-on-stakes throughout the day.
And don’t forget to wear a costume: Patrons dressed in proper renaissance faire attire will receive 10 percent off their bill.
Image courtesy of The Black Squirrel
A local author and historian will prove tonight that heroes don’t deserve all the credit.
Canden Schwantes Arciniega, author of Wicked Georgetown and Wild Women of Washington, D.C., will talk about notorious figures in D.C. history at the Mt. Pleasant Library (3160 16th Street NW) at 7 p.m.
Arciniega, a volunteer docent and researcher for the D.C. Historical Society and Kiplinger Library, has spent years exploring the city and learning about its infamous individuals.
Copies of Arciniega’s books will be available for purchase and signing at the event.
Photo via Canden Schwantes Arciniega
It’s back.
The Silent Disco Dance Party will return to Dupont Circle on Saturday, Aug. 29.
The first silent dance party in June attracted hundreds of earbud-wearing revelers in colorful costumes and party attire dancing to tunes that only they could hear.
With Love DC will again organize the event and assemble the party’s playlist.
“Our first silent dance party was so much fun we just have to do it again,” reads the event’s Facebook page.
“Again, the idea is simple,” continues the event listing. “Show up on time. We all push play. We dance. We smile. Joy spreads.”
Nearly 6,000 people have already RSVPed to attend the party.
