Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is coming on Monday and bringing with it a blast of arctic air that will bring some seriously cold temperatures and another chance of light snow. Before the cold moves in, though, this weekend is expected to stay mild, with temperatures in the high 40s with rain only expected Friday night.
Here’s everything you need to know to make the most of this holiday weekend in the Capitol Hill area:
Events
Yale A Capella in D.C.: Whim ‘n Rhythm Concert
Capitol Hill Arts Workshop (545 7th St. SE)
Friday 7:30-8:30 p.m.
Yale University’s all-female, all-seniors a cappella group Whim ‘n’ Rhythm will perform a concert that ranges from traditional jazz standards to contemporary pop and rock hits. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for kids.
St. Mark’s Players present Sweeney Todd
St. Mark’s Episcopal Church (3rd and A streets SE)
Friday and Saturday 8 p.m.
The St. Mark’s Players, a community theater company on Capitol Hill, will be performing “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” from Jan. 15-23. Tickets are available online.
Sweat
Arena Stage (1101 6th St. SW)
Friday and Saturday 8 p.m., Sunday 2 p.m. & 7:30 p.m.
The Arena Stage and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival present Sweat, a play written by Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage. The play “explores America’s industrial decline at the turn of the millennium by examining the inhabitants of one Pennsylvania town who still struggle to reclaim what’s lost, find redemption and redefine themselves in a new century.” Tickets can be purchased online.
I Have A Dream Story Time
Northeast Library (330 7th St. SE)
Saturday 10:30 a.m.
the Children’s Department of the Northeast library will celebrate the birthday of civil rights leader, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with an “I Have A Dream” story time. Families are invited to listen to stories and sing songs about accepting and celebrating differences, working together, friendship, and dreaming big dreams. Afterward, children can make an inspirational craft.
Make Your Own 12×12 Painting Workshop with MasPazThe Fridge (516 8th St. SE)
Saturday 2-4 p.m.
Artist MasPaz, who curated the current exhibit “Kids” at The Fridge, will lead a workshop where participants will create their own 12×12 inch painting. All supplies will be provided and admission is $30 at the door.
Maketto Coat and Blanket Drive
Maketto (1351 H St. NE)
Monday all day
The H Street coffee shop and retail store will offer a free coffee to anybody who donates a gently used coat or blanket to be donated to homeless individuals.
Metrorail
- On Saturday from 3-9 a.m. Metro will be conducting maintenance work on the payment system for SmarTrip cards. Customers will not be able to load or reload their SmarTrip card using a debit or credit card during that time.
- Shuttle buses will replace trains on the Orange and Blue lines between Stadium-Armory and Cheverly and Benning Road
- Silver Line trains will only operate between Wiehle-Reston East and Ballston
- Yellow Line trains will only operate between Huntington and Fort Totten
- Red Line trains will operate every 9-18 minutes
- On Monday, Metro will open at 5 a.m. and run on a Saturday schedule. Off-peak fares will be in effect all day and parking will be free at all Metro-operated facilities
Metrobus
- On Monday, all busses will operate on a Saturday supplemental schedule, with some post-midnight trips canceled on some routes.
Trash Collection
There will be no trash collection on Monday, so collection days will be pushed back by one day for the entire week.
Parking
Parking meters will not be enforced on Monday.
Photo via Flickr/afagen
Hill Now is closed today in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
All government offices, public schools and city recreation centers are closed.
Metro trains and buses are running on a Saturday schedule, every 12 minutes from endpoint stations. No track work is scheduled, off-peak fares are in effect and parking in Metro lots is free.
Trash and recycling pickup is suspended until Tuesday. Parking meters are not being enforced, but rules about not blocking the H Street streetcar are still in effect.
If you’re free to volunteer in the neighborhood today, here are some options.
Photo via Flickr/afagen
If you’re considering Martin Luther King Jr. Day a day on, not a day off, several groups are looking for volunteers around Ward 6.
Here are some of your options on Monday, and this weekend too:
Beautify Eliot-Hine Middle School — Volunteers will do projects at the 1830 Constitution Ave. NE school from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday. Check-in for adult and youth volunteers starts at 8 a.m. and closes at 9:30 a.m. Signups can be made online.
Inventory Books at a School Library — The school at 1125 New Jersey Ave. NW needs volunteers Monday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. to help in the library, straighten classrooms and wipe down walls. Check here to help at Walker-Jones Education Campus.
Clean the New York Avenue Men’s Emergency Shelter — You can help clean one of the city’s homeless shelters tomorrow (Saturday) morning before guests come for the night. Catholic Volunteer Network needs help between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. at the 1355 New York Ave. NE shelter. More information can be found here.
Learn About the Anacostia Watershed — A 12 to 15-mile bike tour of the Anacostia Watershed will leave from New Jersey Avenue SE on Monday morning. The tour will make stops at a community garden, a home outfitted with solar technology and Kingman Island. See here to sign up.
Photo via NationalService.gov
(Updated at 4:15 p.m.) After practicing for months, Capitol Hill students will honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. tomorrow afternoon.
Fifth graders at Watkins Elementary School will recite the entire “I Have a Dream” speech at 1 p.m. Friday, standing where King delivered the speech in 1963.
Nearly 100 students have been practicing their lines in the Watkins cafeteria for the past two months, taking the last 15 minutes of every school day to rehearse, assistant principal Anthony Lawson said. They first got their lines before Thanksgiving.
“The kids are as passionate about it as the teachers are,” he said. “They knew as fourth graders that they would be doing it this year, and this is their big moment.”
Students at the 420 12th St. SE school have read the speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial for at least the past seven years, Lawson said. Video from the reading last year shows smiling children taking turns at the podium and raising their arms as they shout the final words of the speech: “Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”
“Dr. King was like a really big person in the civil rights movement, so it felt good to honor his legacy,” one girl said on camera after participating in the reading.
“I feel awesome right now, like I jumped off a plane,” another beaming student said.
Video via YouTube/Caryn Ernst
