Festival

From an email:

Join us this Saturday, August 6th between 12 and 6pm for the Third Annual Art Walk in DC’s North Capital Neighborhoods of Bloomingdale, Eckington and Truxton Circle. Featuring “Pop-up” art installations that will be in front lawns throughout the month of August, an Artist Village with unique crafts for sale, various venues with live music and much more, this year’s Art Walk is not to be missed. Sponsored by North Capital Main Street and the Pinkline Project, the mission is to bring the community together in an event for all ages to enjoy.

Some call it Block Party, some call it Grand Finale — oh heck, call it whatever you want — but we are closing the unit block of T Street for some lively music, a Pig Roast and craft brews. A 250 pound pig will be slowly smoked for 24 hours and served alongside roasted chicken, sausage, grilled vegetables and more in an all-inclusive buffet for $15 starting at 4pm. Great Lakes and Heavy Seas Breweries will represent with their awesome craft-brews on site with pints available for $5. A selection of red and white wines will be available for $5 a glass as well.

Come for the food and drink, stay for the entertainment. On stage there will be a lively Rumba Flamenco Band with dancer. In between sets, we’ll host a Pizza Eating Contest during which representation from Big Bear Cafe, Rustik Tavern, Boundary Stone, Solly’s Tavern and soon to open in Petworth/Park View, DC Reynolds Bar, will be in fierce competition to put down the most pizzas in our allotted time-span. Come support your local providers of food and drink as they put their skills to the test. And the best part of this, the Prince of Petworth himself will be hosting the contest wearing his “Prince”ly attire. Oh yeah, we ordered the cape and crown. Maybe we can convince him to scarf down some pizzas as well.

If all this doesn’t sound like fun to you, we don’t know what does.

You can call this Just Another Random Day in Bloomingdale.

When: Saturday, August 6th
Art Walk 12-4 pm
Grand Finale or “Block Party” 4 – 6:30 pm

What: Art Walk featuring pop up art installations in lawns throughout the neighborhoods
Artist Village with unique crafts for sale
Live Music in front of Big Bear Cafe, Window’s Cafe and The Firehouse
Grand Finale in front of Rustik Tavern featuring a Pig Roast, Craft Beers, Flamenco music
…and Pizza Eating Contest

From an email:

In celebration of their 7th Annual Bastille Day Block Party and 2011 French Maid Race, L’Enfant Café Bar announces it has enlarged its street festival. The casual café-bar has again made arrangements to close an entire city block. Co-hosted by King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette – who strongly resemble L’Enfant’s co-owners Jim Ball and Christopher Lynch – the Bastille Day Block Party will take over Vernon Street, NW, between 18th and 19th Streets. Doors open at 4 p.m. and the street party concludes at 11p.m. Unique entertainments on the hour will include a can-can extravaganza, Miss Joule the Fire Twirler, and Wham Bam Pam’s seductive danse magique.

Entry to D.C.’s revolutionary summer party is $5 for commoners and royalty. Guests are invited to chill to DJs on the patio, dance in the street and enjoy street bars and food trucks in anticipation of the arrival of the Absolute Monarch, his queen and courtiers who will preside over the French maid races.

The 2011 French maid race will start at 8p.m. L’Enfant will provide costumes for up to 40 competitors. Racers must don a short, frilly black and white lace apron dress and prepare to get silly. And wet. The object of the race is to fill a Champagne coupe with soup spoons of water by running back and forth between the glass and a bucket of water. Winners in categories including “Fastest” and “His Majesty’s Favorite” will win prizes.

After the race, DJ booths will be rolled into Vernon Street and all attendees will be gifted with a mask. The dancing on the street will conclude at 11p.m. when the street party ends.

L’Enfant Café Bar is a neighborhood gathering place and as such has literally reserved a special VIP section along the race course for the residents of Vernon Street. Organizers have lengthened the race course so all guests can witness the race and cheer for their favorite contestant. Food trucks will be parked on site for hungry merrymakers. The party’s sponsors include Stella Artois, Mouton Cadet, Marquis de la Tour and Svedka.

Schedule of events:

4 p.m. Bastille Day Block Party Kicks Off

6 p.m. Arrival of King Louis XVI

7 p.m. Can-can performance

8 p.m. French Maid Race

8:30pm Arrival of Queen Marie Antoinette and courtiers

9 p.m. Masquerade Ball on Vernon Street NW between 18th and 19th Streets

10 p.m. Can-can performance

11 p.m. Last dance

L’Enfant Café Bar, 2200 18th Street, NW

And

What: BASTILLE DAY BAGUETTE RELAY RACE at PAUL Bakery and Café

To commemorate France’s National Holiday, PAUL – France’s leading bakery – invites the public to come have some fun and participate in a “Baguette Relay Race” which will take place in front of PAUL in Penn Quarter, where relay team members will take turns running a lap around the plaza of the US Navy Memorial with a fresh baguette in hand, in lieu of a traditional baton.

We’ll divide up racers into teams of six people. Each team will be led by a PAUL employee. Each racer will do one lap around the circle of the US Navy Memorial and then hand off his/her baguette (baton) to the next teammate. All members of the winning team will get a $25 gift card to PAUL. We’ll be encouraging relay racers to sign up in advance on our FB page: Facebook.com/Paul1889.usa

When: Thursday, July 14, 2001 at 11:30am
Where: PAUL Bakery and Café in Penn Qtr. (at the US Navy Memorial)
801 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC
Tel: 202-524-4500/01

Photo by PoPville flickr user HeatherMG

Have a great long weekend and eat well!

If you get any good photos of the fireworks, please upload some to the PoPville flickr pool.

And to start of the weekend with a smile I had to share this bizarrely random and awesome spam email I just received:

Okay fine my name is
paul witty,I will like to
order for chicken parm,
chicken
masala and chicken picasa
for for 200 people
and its for my mom
birthday,It will be pick
up by a carrier MAN on
the 7th of july
2011,Around 2pm noon,Am
ready to pay for full
payment right now with my
credit card,So can you
make it for me on that
date So can i
have the price per person and
the total cost for the 200
people u can also email me with ur full name and resturant adress and number

best regard
paul

Photo by PoPville flickr user Columbia Heights Climber

“Dear PoP,

Just curious if there has been any buzz about rooftop parties for the Fourth of July. I have been attempting to google around and search for bars etc that will be open but have been having trouble finding anything definitive. I was hoping you could put it out to the PoP readership to see where the party’s at – I’m guessing someone will have a good suggestion.”

We talked about some good places to watch the fireworks here. But does anyone know of any good roof deck parties?