It’s one thing to be quarantined in our DC Metro homes when it’s cold and snowy outside. It’s quite another when the weather turns warm, the gardens are in bloom, and the festivals take over the DC streets. To take the sting off, we’ve compiled a list of five things to do this summer in the DC Metro that legitimately feel like summer fun.
#1 – “Go” To The Theater
CultureSpotmc.com features everything from traditional shows like The Pirate Laureate of Port Town to more relevant works like Round House Theater’s “Homebound,” an original web-series that explores life under Stay-at-Home orders in the Nation’s Capital.
#2 — Sign Up For Camp
Telling your kids that summer camp isn’t happening this year is akin to telling them they have to wait a whole other year before they get their license. That said, the DC community is pulling together in every way they can to create virtual summer camps. A couple of note are Create Art Center’s Virtual Summer Art Camp which features 90 minute zoom sessions teaching 2D and 3D artworks, as well as Dance Exchange’s Exploring and Making Dance Camp where youth will learn to dance and choreograph.
#3 — Become a Chalk Artist
There’s some things that quarantine can’t take away, and one of them is the tradition of summer sidewalk chalk. In fact, sidewalk chalking has become incredibly popular as people have been restricted to their front yards and sidewalks. That’s why Bethesda Urban Partnership has created “Color Bethesda,” a contest that calls on the people of Bethesda, North Bethesda, and Chevy Chase to share your masterpiece with them for a chance to win a gift card to a downtown Bethesda business. Just email a photo of your art to artist@bethesda.org with the subject line “Color Bethesda.” Include your name, artist’s age and zip code. Deadline to submit a photo is June 1, 2020.
#4 – Take a Trip Around the World
There was a time when the average person would rarely leave their hometown. Instead of travel, they relied on travelogue films to expand their horizons of exotic locales and different cultures. Take a trip back to 1902 (all the way to the 1950’s) with film historian Richard Hall for Virtual Vintage Movie Night. He has created a collection of travelogue films that you can watch on YouTube.
#5 — Check Out a Concert
We may have felt the loss of live music, but in its place, musicians all across Washington, D.C., Northern Virginia, and Montgomery County have created virtual concerts. Now is the chance to see performances that you may never have seen in person. The National Philharmonic is performing Aaron Copland’s “Fanfare for the Common Man” to honor hospital workers on the front lines of the pandemic. The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra is making it easy for you to enjoy digital content including at-home recitals, archived performances, podcasts, educational activities for children and more! And we’ve mentioned before how Bethesda’s Strathmore is going out of its way to make virtual content available like their Live from the Living Room concerts on Facebook Live.
