The DC Lineup for this weekend: go-go, gardening and a puppet guild

There is a lot of variety in this edition of The DC Lineup: Take in myriad art forms used by local artists, learn something new in an online class, or engage with the community.

The weather will be cloudy throughout the weekend, Aug. 21 to 23, with scattered thunderstorms on Friday afternoon and Saturday. Temperatures are expected to range from 71 to 91, according to the forecast.

1. Music: Virtual Chuck Brown Day celebrates the birthday of the “Godfather of Go-Go” with a digital rendition of the DC Department of Parks and Recreation’s annual go-go music festival. DJ Kool hosts the event, set to feature performances by the Chuck Brown Band as well as Suttle and E.U. featuring Sugar Bear. The show is from 8 to 10 p.m. on Saturday on DCN Channel 16 and on various social media pages. To lead up to the event, the organizers suggest listening to one of the DC-based legend’s performances available online, like this NPR Tiny Desk Concert. … This weekend also marks the start of the National Park Service’s 48th annual Fort Dupont Summer Concert Series. This year’s virtual events will feature artists from across the country as well as the Washington area. This Saturday, “Legends of Soul and Funk” will feature area musicians The New Soul Searchers, DJ Lance Reynolds and We Are One X-Perience Band. The series continues every Saturday through Sept. 19. Shows start at 7:30 p.m. and are free to watch on the concert series website.

2. Arts: The National Capital Puppetry Guild conducts workshops, performances and special events to bring puppet arts to the greater Washington area. This weekend, the group is hosting its first-ever puppetry festival. The online fest starts at 3 p.m. on Friday, and concludes with an ice cream social from 7 to 8 p.m. on Sunday. The schedule features workshops on topics like the basics of puppetry, toy theater, shadow puppets and intellectual property. Highlights include two-time Jim Henson Foundation Grant recipients Alex and Omsted hosting the National Capital Puppet Slam on Friday from 8 to 9 p.m. A $20 guild membership comes with an all-access pass; a pass without membership costs $25. A free, family-oriented program of puppet shows inspired by Saturday morning cartoons and originating from across the United States and Mexico will run from 9 to 10 a.m. on Saturday, with an encore showing on Sunday at the same time.

3. Food & Drink: The family-owned culinary business Pinke’s Eats is hosting Parkside Food Days to bring fresh produce and other food items to the community, from local vendors like Cosmic Chaos Drinks, District Pit BBQ, Neat Meat Food Truck, Plum Good Products and The Fresh Food Factory. The gathering will take place from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday at 650 Parkside Place NE. Face masks and social distancing are required. 

4. Education: Duvalier Malone Enterprises is a consulting firm in the District that serves nonprofits and underserved communities across the United States. The organization is working to aid local students who are struggling to afford school supplies this year by hosting a School Supply Drive from noon to 4 p.m. on Saturday in the 900 block of Gallatin Street NE at Fort Circle Parks. Face masks are required for those picking up or dropping off school supplies. Online donations are also welcome.

5. Arts: Hamiltonian Artists kicks off two new exhibitions with an online opening reception and artist talks this weekend. One exhibit, Performing Incantations: Deconstructing Racialized and Gendered Media Erasure, features work by local filmmaker and theater artist Britt Sankofa. Part of its focus is to “interrogate the legacy of media eras and misrepresentation,” according to the description. The other exhibition is Les Racines du Baobab: Dans Un Famille D’eau (The Roots of the Baobab: Inside a Family of Water). This show is by DC-based Hamiltonian Artists fellow Yacine Tilala Fall, who expresses her experience with the Baobab tree in Senegal through 150 ceramic pots, natural textiles and performance. The digital program is on Saturday from 7 to 9 p.m., and is free to attend. Both exhibits will run through Sept. 14 at the gallery, which is open by appointment only from Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. 

6. Dance: Step Afrika! is presenting the culminating performance of its Summer Steps camp this Sunday from 5 to 6 p.m. on Facebook and YouTube. The program features students rising from grades 4 to 12 who participated in the summer camp. Details about more educational opportunities with Step Afrika!, including next year’s summer camp, are available on the group’s website.

7. Music: The American Pops Orchestra is moving its regular Tuesday night trivia event to Saturday this weekend, and partnering with the Hawai’i Arts Alliance for “Name That Tune.” The night’s theme is Hawaiian music, including tunes from Hawaiian-themed television shows, movies and music videos. The trivia night is from 7 to 8 p.m., and participation is free. The top team will win a “candy care package” from Capital Candy Jar. Donations are welcome to support the DC-based orchestra and the arts alliance.

8. Arts: Dupont Circle’s Fantom Comics invites the community to come together and make art during its “Draw at Home with Fantom” online event. The meetup is on Sunday from 3 to 6 p.m. Registration is required beforehand, and attendees are encouraged to buy something from Fantom Comics’ website to support the store.

9. Nature: The U.S. Botanic Garden is hosting a free online lecture “Growing Ranunculus.” Attendees will learn how to cultivate these spring flowers, which are also known as buttercups. The workshop is on Saturday from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Registration closes on Friday at 5 p.m., and registrants will be emailed a link to the class on Friday night. Entry is limited to 100 people. 

10. Education: Learn from Lee Pera, the founder of the District’s first tiny house community, and Jewel Pearson, the co-founder of the group Tiny House Trailblazers, during an introductory workshop. The webinar will explain different kinds of tiny houses, zoning and building codes, and the benefits of buying an existing home versus building one yourself. Saturday’s event runs from 1 to 3 p.m. and is hosted by HardHat Diplomat, a local woman-owned business that helps homeowners manage renovations. Tickets cost $40.