The DC Lineup for this weekend: flowers, France and Fort Stevens

Summertime entertainment is in full swing over the next few days with outdoor film screenings and a seasonal flower festival. This weekend, July 12 to 14, you can also taste local beers, learn some history, experience live music and art, or attend a Bastille Day celebration without leaving the District. Following the excitement of the Women’s World Cup last weekend, sports fans can support Special Olympics DC at Audi Field or indulge in a garden party to watch this year’s Wimbledon finals.

It will be a sunny weekend, according to the weather report, with temperatures ranging from 70 to 92 degrees.

1. Seasonal Festival: Enjoy aquatic flowers at peak bloom during the 2019 Lotus and Water Lily Festival at the Kenilworth Park & Aquatic Gardens, 1550 Anacostia Ave. NE, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. The schedule reflects a variety of cultural traditions expressed through dance, music, yoga, games, arts and crafts, and a fashion show. There will also be opportunities to learn about wild animals and their natural habitat through ranger-led tours and other activities. The gardens are located within Anacostia Park and have been maintained since Congress adopted legislation in 1926 to preserve waterways in the District. The National Park Service event is free to attend and is accessible by Metro and by bike. For those driving, free parking is located at Kenilworth Park, 4047 Deane Ave. NE. Free, accessible shuttles from the parking lot and the Deanwood Metrorail station will transport attendees to and from the fair from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Water stations will be on site for attendees to refill reusable drink containers, and vendors will be selling food.

2. Sports: This Friday, Unified Exchange teams from Special Olympics DC and Special Olympics Massachusetts will play at 4:30 p.m. at Audi Field, 100 Potomac Ave. SW. The Unified Exchange teams combine roughly equal numbers of athletes with and without intellectual disabilities; the local program is the result of a partnership among Major League Soccer, D.C. United and Special Olympics DC. Friday’s match is free to attend, and it precedes D.C. United’s game against the New England Revolution at 7 p.m. Special Olympics Night tickets start at $35, and a portion of the sales will go to Special Olympics DC.

3. Local Music: Two musical acts from the DC area — syncopated acoustic guitarist Daniel Bachman and the experimental hip-hop group Model Home — will perform at this summer’s weekend installment of the Luce Unplugged Community Showcase. This free concert is on Friday from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, 800 G St. NW. Right Proper Brewing Co. will also be on site with free beer tastings. This summer’s Luce Unplugged series includes another performance on Thursday, Aug. 8, at 5:30 p.m. featuring La Marvela, an all-female band based in the Washington area that pays tribute to Colombian ancestral music.

4. Walking Tours: On Friday night, a free, two-hour walking tour of local sites associated with the Underground Railroad in the Washington area will highlight newly installed historical markers that designate the former locations of DC’s slave markets and the Williams Slave Jail, one of two notorious slave holding pens in the District. The tour is hosted by the community nonprofit Washington DC History & Culture, and its founder Robert Kelleman will be the guide. The walk will begin at 6 p.m. at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art, 950 Independence Ave. SW. … National Mall and Memorial Parks, a division of the National Park Service, will host a walk on “Canals in Washington, D.C.,” with a focus on the history of these waterways from the 1830s to Abraham Lincoln’s presidency. The event is from 7 to 9 p.m. on Saturday beginning at Washington Monument Lodge, located near 15th Street midway between Jefferson and Madison drives. It is free to attend, and registration is not required.

5. Local Food & Drink: Try a plethora of local beers on Sunday at DC Brewers Day, a benefit function for the DC Brewers’ Guild. Independent craft beer — brewed right here in the District — will be on tap from 2 to 6 p.m. at Atlas Brew Works, 2052 West Virginia Ave. NE. At-large DC Council member David Grosso is scheduled to be a guest bartender, serving ales from Atlas Brew Works, District Chophouse, DC Brau, Bluejacket, Valor Brew Pub, Gordon Biersch and Port City, among others. Food trucks and music are also part of the festivities. A $5 donation covers admission and beer samples.

6. Culture: France’s national holiday, Bastille Day, is this Sunday. To celebrate, the Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens is hosting a French Festival on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The museum’s 18th-century French decorative arts collection, a play by Happenstance Theater and baroque dance with The New York Baroque Dance Company are just part of the day’s agenda. Tickets cost $18 for the general public, $15 for seniors, $12 for members, $10 for college students, and $5 for active military members and kids ages 6 to 18. Admission is free for ages 5 and younger as well as children of active military members. The museum is located at 4155 Linnean Ave. NW. … Soak in more French culture with crêpe samples, French wine and the lawn game pétanque (traditionally played in Provence) during a Bastille Day Celebration on Saturday at Fessenden Park, located on Wisconsin Avenue at Fessenden and 42nd streets NW. Crafts and music are also part of the program, which runs from 2 to 4 p.m. Tickets cost $20 for adults and include free entry for one child per ticket; additional tickets are $5 per child. Admission covers food, drinks and activities. The event is hosted by Tenleytown Main Street and Friends of Fessenden Park, and proceeds will support the park’s maintenance and programming.

7. Local Art: A free DC Mural Festival featuring South American artists takes place on Sunday from 1 to 5 p.m. Art Museum of the Americas and Hola Cultura are hosting the fest with support from the DC Mayor’s Office on Latino Affairs. The schedule includes guided tours of the mural tunnel “Roots of Peace,” film screenings, artist talks, panel discussions, children’s activities, live music and more. Latin American food will be available for purchase. As part of the festival, you can sign up for a bus tour of the city’s Latino-themed murals, starting from the museum steps and ending at “Unity,” a mural on the wall of the Pepco substation in Adams Morgan. It was painted in 1982, and Hola Cultura is campaigning to preserve the historic artwork as it is slated for demolition when the substation is reconstructed.

8. Film: On Friday, watch a free, outdoor screening of A Dog’s Way Home, a heartwarming story about a dog that travels 400 miles through the wilderness of Colorado to reunite with its owner. The film starts at dusk at the New York Avenue Playground, 100 N St. NW. The gathering is hosted by the Hanover Area Civic Association. … If the musical fantasy Mary Poppins Returns is more to your liking, head instead to Farragut Square at Connecticut Avenue and K Street NW for the latest installment in the Golden Triangle Business Improvement District’s Golden Cinema 2019 series. The screening starts at sunset. The annual series continues July 19 with Incredibles 2, July 26 with Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, and Aug. 2 with Wonder Woman. … Looking ahead, those wanting a jump-start on their weekends this summer can catch outdoor films on Thursday evenings during the Library of Congress’ third annual LOC Summer Movies on the Lawn festival. Six classics from the library’s National Film Registry will be shown. The series was scheduled to kick off this week, but inclement weather forced a delay. Instead, it opens with Beauty and the Beast on July 18 and concludes with the rescheduled screening of Mary Poppins on Aug. 22. A League of Their Own, Jaws, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, and Jurassic Park round out the schedule. Films are shown at sundown on the north lawn of the library’s Thomas Jefferson Building, which is located on 1st Street SE between Independence Avenue and East Capitol Street.

9. Local History: On Saturday, the National Park Service honors the 155th anniversary of the Battle of Fort Stevens — the only Civil War battle that occurred in the District, and the only time a sitting U.S. president has come under enemy fire. From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., living history demonstrations, cannon and musket firings, history discussions and 19th-century music, games and crafts will transform the grounds of Fort Stevens. The opening event will feature a talk by Jonathan Noyalas, director of the McCormick Civil War Institute at Shenandoah University, as well as remarks by DC Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, who this week introduced legislation to designate Fort Stevens and 21 other National Park Service-managed sites as the Civil War Defenses of Washington National Historical Park. The site is located on Quackenbos Street NW between 13th Street and Georgia Avenue NW. … Rock Creek Conservancy and the Crestwood Citizens Association celebrate another Ward 4 landmark with a Sunday afternoon party at the Carter Barron Amphitheatre Promenade, 4850 Colorado Ave. NW. Activities include music, food and drink, and family-oriented activities. The amphitheater in Rock Creek Park is currently closed for repairs, and Sunday’s event will highlight the conservancy’s ongoing community engagement efforts in connection with planned renovations. The party also marks the Crestwood neighborhood’s upcoming 300th birthday, honoring its origins as a 300-acre estate mapped out in 1720. Tickets cost $25 for adults and $10 for ages 5 through 20; admission is free for ages 4 and younger.

10. Sports: The Fairmont Washington, D.C., Georgetown is hosting a Wimbledon Garden Party on Sunday at the West End hotel’s Juniper Courtyard. Patrons can watch the Wimbledon finals, play in the hotel’s miniature tennis court, listen to the Dom Petrellese Quartet play British tunes, and enjoy an all-you-can-eat brunch that includes white chocolate and cherry tennis balls for dessert. Tickets cost $25. Prizes will be awarded for the best dressed, so visitors are advised to wear green, purple or white — the traditional colors of Wimbledon. The party is from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Fairmont hotel, 2401 M St. NW.