Adams Morgan is hosting a mostly virtual celebration, featuring live-streamed local music performances, children and family activities, and restaurant and bar discounts for Adams Morgan Day on Sunday.
Adams Morgan Day is the longest-running neighborhood festival in D.C., according to its website. The 42nd celebration takes place amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Andrew Nguyen, the treasurer for the Adams Morgan Community Alliance that plans the annual festival, said that the committee knew it would find a way to make the event happen. The committee had its first planning meeting in February, before it anticipated the COVID-19 pandemic. Once quarantines were put in place, the committee worked on how to make the event both virtual and physical.
The restaurant, bar and music venue Songbyrd is hosting a music history panel and live-streamed performances on Songbyrd’s Twitch channel from local musicians Footwerk, Brandon Woody and Emma G from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m.
There are live-streamed, instructor-led dance sessions at “The Dance Plaza,” which participants can watch on Zoom or Facebook.
Parents can also register their children from ages 5 to 12 for virtual athletic activities like Simon Says, soccer and basketball. All the activities are hosted on Zoom.
Adams Morgan Day also features in-person, culturally focused events. Wear a mask and visit Marie Reed Elementary School throughout next week to watch a new mural be painted and to even participate in painting. Community members hope to represent cultural growth and diversity with the mural.
There’s also an interactive trivia map, developed by The Playful City Lab, which is based at American University. The map gives adventurers clues to travel around the neighborhood and learn about local historical figures and sites. At different locations, participants can pick up postcards of the site.
The Playful City Lab also collaborated with the Adams Morgan Day Volunteer Committee to create a mural scavenger hunt around Adams Morgan. Clues guide players around the neighborhood and provide more information about each found mural.
Nguyen said that he’s most excited about this mural map quest.
“There’s such a big feel of culture in Adams Morgan,” Nguyen said. “We wanted the event to be … a place for our history, for burgeoning social justice movements, integration movements.”
Local businesses are also participating in Adams Morgan Day. Residents can buy a $10 meal at the West African restaurant Bukom Cafe, a boozy frozen mint lemonade from The Green Zone or a discounted to-go order from Roofers Union, which sells American food.
The Adams Morgan Day website also features local vendors that sell items like candles, jewelry, artwork and clothing.
Despite the different format that the festival takes this year, the volunteers who organized the events said that the celebration still highlights “the creativity, unity and heart at the core of the Adams Morgan community,” according to the event press release.
Nguyen said that businesses and neighbors are just happy to finally have “something to look forward to.”
