This weekend, the Sugarloaf Craft Festival is back at the Montgomery County Fairgrounds. It really has almost everything you could think of in terms of crafts and art, as well as neat fair snack foods like maple syrup and hot chestnuts. Yum!
-
April 12-22 also features Filmfest DC, which shows a wide range of extraordinary new films from around the world at a variety of Washington, DC locations. [dc.about.com]
Friday
Happy Friday the 13th! It also happens to be Thomas Jefferson’s Birthday! Visit the Jefferson Memorial and check out the ceremonial wreaths laid in his honour. [dc.about.com]
10pm
At Restaurant Judy, check out some Maracuyeah! This could be the next dubstep music, as it has “carved out a blossoming niche in the D.C. party scene, curating bass-heavy tropical sounds that infuse dance music with a new energy and blur the lines between electronic, organic, classic and cutting-edge. Even better, Maracuyeah events follow a DIY approach, skipping the nightclub circuit for community based spaces and small bars where different classes and cultures can blend comfortably on the dancefloor. DJs Rat, Mafe and Bent welcome NYC Dutty Artz crew DJ Chief Boima for their anniversary party at Judy’s Restaurant, along with live cumbia from Tribaldis Band.” Admission is $10. [WaPo]
mmm, such tasty treats! Mochiiii
Saturday
10am-6pm
Today is the day!! The National Cherry Blossom festival will be holding its annual parade, and will end with the most-awesome Sakura Matsuri Japanese Street Festival – which is a huge Japanese street party that includes live entertainment, awesome ethnic food, arts, games and a Ginza Marketplace.
2-10pm
Cap City Bar Golf will tie in bar-hopping as well as a min-golf course with actual putting greens in each bar! It sounds pretty fun, especially the booze part. Tickets are $27 per foursome, are and will yield you $2beers.
6pm
Nerd Nite DC this month will discuss Sperm banks, typography, and quantum computers. Pretty freaky, if you ask me! Tickets are $10.
7pm
If you’re in the Titanic craze, there’s a Titanic exhibit at the National Geographic you can check out through July 8. But at this time, at the Women’s Titanic Memorial (yes, there is one in DC!), there will be a commemorative ceremony. “Waterfront Park will be lit with 1,517 lights, representing the number of people who died in the disaster, and historic images of the Titanic, her crew and passengers are projected onto a 50-foot high screen on a building near the memorial. Music from 1912 will play throughout the night, and “Nearer My God to Thee,” the final song performed by the doomed ship’s orchestra, will be performed at 9 p.m.” [WaPo]
-
Sunday
11am-9pm
Another Miyazaki Cherry Blossom Festival Day? Yes please! Again at the Freer Gallery, today’s 10th annual anime marathon features: “Ponyo,” (YESS!) “Porco Rosso,” (Odd…) “Princess Mononoke” (Yesssss!!) and “Spirited Away,” (Freaky, but fun). GO.
Also don’t forget, Monday is DC Emancipation Day, and will mark the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Act, when Lincoln granted freedom to 3,100 enslaved persons in the District of Columbia. A year-long celebration will kick off with educational and cultural events throughout the city. This also leads to Tax Day being on Tuesday, so get those taxes done, stat! [dc.about.com]
——
Ongoing Geekdom:
- April is an entire month of pre-gaming forDC Beer week in August. You can buy a button to get beer sales all month at 15 different pubs around DC. Sounds pretty awesome to me! [DCist]
-
Jeopardy at DAR constitution Hall April 20-21.
-
Taste of 8th – Saturday, April 28 from 1-4 pm when 20 of our restaurants provide tasting samples in exchange for tickets. Tickets are $5.00 each or 5 for $20.00. All proceeds benefit Barracks Row Main Street.
- March 6 – April 15, Arlington Arts’ Signature Theatre is hosting a show called ‘Brother Russia: A World Premiere Rock Musical’. Sounds awesome to me. Russian folk turned rock? Tickets are $70 and up, from what I could find.
- DC’s 100th Anniversary Cherry Blossom Festival will be March 20-April 27: Enjoy traditional and modern Japan/American celebrations of spring.
- Through May, the National Geographic Society will be hosting an exhibit that features all the stories they wrote that weren’t published! See what most can’t, and learn about stuff like “Happy Hour at the Ochroma Tree.”.
- Artisphere is exhibiting Elevator to the Moon: Retro-Future Visions of Space, which features contemporary artists’ works based on 20th century predictions of what the future of space travel would be. There is also an opening reception on the 5th that could be neat. It runs through June 9.
- The Art of Video Games, which exhibits video games voted on by fans, is open at the American Art Museum through September 30th. It starts with lectures by famous developers (many are sold out, though they will be livestreamed!), a GameFest, and video game movies like King of Kong. If you haven’t seen it, go. It’s so dorkfully win.
—-
Geek Look Ahead:
April
- T-mode, an anime and gaming convention, will be April 20-22.
-
That 80′s Prom 5will be Sat, April 21st. It’s pretty fun, and last year I saw a DeLorian!
May
-
Trucko De Mayo will be held on Saturday, May 5 from Noon through 9 p.m. on the RFK Stadium Festival Grounds (Lot 3). Featuring free admission, free parking, live music, two bars – and over 35 food trucks.
- May 18-20 will host the World’s Greatest Steampunk World’s Fair in Piscataway NJ! This looks pretty intense but fun. I just don’t have a real Steampunk costume yet! T___T
June
- Anime Mid-Atlantic is a bit further away, but it’s another big Anime Convention, if you’re in need of some geek time! June 15-17
- Bronycon will be in NYC (actually the Meadowlands) June 30-July1. I’ll be there, cosplaying it up! Note me if you want to room share, cosplay with me, or just meet up!
July
- Otakon July 27-29: Become by friend now and we can split a room in this Baltimore-based anime extravaganza!
August
September
- September 8-9 will host the 2012 Baltimore Comic-Con.
October
November
- NekoCon is November 2-4. Apparently it starts on the 2th. I love the Japanese.
Now, compare that to 
