Photos from Arlington Festival of the Arts

A large outdoor art festival took over Highland Street this weekend, with the Arlington Festival of the Arts featuring too many tents to count, five food trucks, outdoor beer tent and music.

The line of tents filled with art, jewelry and sculpture
s went for 3 blocks on Highland Street on Saturday
 and Sunday.

Beer tent Sunday behind the Metro in Clarendon park.
Patrons could get drafts in the shade while eating lunch
from one of the five food trucks parked nearby.

My favorite art exhibit by Whitney "SPOON"
Summerford. You are actually encouraged to use
a phone camera to view the handpainted scenes,
which helps bring out the abstracted images.

Rosslyn outdoor film festival starts tonight

Tonight, Friday May 17 is the first night in the series of outdoor film showings in Rosslyn's Gateway park. This summer all the movies have a school related theme, with the 80s classic The Breakfast Club kicking things off at around 8pm. Bring a blanket, folding chairs, or snacks to these free movie showings on the grass between Lee Highway. Here is the full summer movie schedule:

May 17 - The Breakfast Club (R) 1985
May 24 - Ferris Bueller's Day Off (PG-13) 1986
May 31 – Clueless (PG-13) 1995
June 7 - Risky Business (R) 1983
June 14 - Can't Buy Me Love (PG-13) 1987
June 21 - Easy A (PG-13) 2010
June 27 - 10 Things I Hate About You (PG-13) 1999
July 5 - Bring It On (PG-13) 2000
July 12 - Pretty in Pink (PG-13) 1986
July 19 - She's All That (PG-13) 1999
July 26 – Fame (R) 1980
August 2 - Can't Hardly Wait (PG-13) 1998
August 9 - Sixteen Candles (PG) 1984
August 16 - High School Musical 3: Senior Year (G) 2006
August 23 - American Graffiti (PG) 1973
August 30 – Grease (PG-13) 1978

Screwtop Wine Bar outdoor seating

I got the chance to try out Screwtop Wine Bar's new outdoor seating on Fillmore Street. While only four small tables, it provides some more much needed sitting space for the unique Clarendon venue. And you won't be seeing a sign with sandwich specials on the sidewalk anytime soon after all the drama lately.

I tried the red wine flight, which offered three small portions of different flavors ranging from fruity to darker and dryer. I always recommend trying the samplers at any venue that offers them (like Lyon Hall's beer flight), just because I'm usually indecisive and its an easy conversation starter.

The grilled cheese sliders where delicious, although slight in portions. Screwtop is great dating venue, has a nice wine and cheese selection, some good appetizers but its not going to be cheap. There menu is a little bit confusing and needs to be streamlined a little. Overall I'm very happy with what Screwtop offers to the local nightlife and hope to go back soon, or to take some of their wine classes once they resume after August.

Thanks to Jason's DC Foodies blog for the image and a very thorough review of Screwtop.

Crystal City Outdoor Film Festival: Star Trek

Join me at tonight's outdoor movie showing of Star Trek: First Contact in Crystal City! It seems like we've gotten a slight break from the heat wave after the storm, so this seems like a great activity to take advantage of the outdoors.

This is a summer long event happening every Monday at sundown until August 16. This year's theme is Star Trek and every week is a different movie, each in chronological order.

Tonight features an extra special people watching event: a Star Trek Costume Contest!

Rosslyn Outdoor Film Festival

Tonight was the free outdoor showing of the 90s classic drama "What's Eating Gilbert Grape" at Gateway park in Rosslyn. A small park at the foot of the 14th street Key bridge and one block north of the Metro, its a nice location for the fun and casual Friday Film Festival series.

Tonight was hot and humid and not too crowded. If you arrive after 8:30 you will have a hard time claiming a plot of grass. The event starts around 6pm with games like bean bag toss and t-shirts as prizes. One of the pre-movie videos featured local comedian Remy promoting the Arlington arts community.

Make sure to bring a blanket for your group, or better yet a very low chair. Regular sized chairs will block the view of people behind you, unless you sit on the pavement on the edges of the park. Also recommended is to bring a cooler with chilled water and snacks to fend off the summer heat, or just grab an ice cream cone from the McDonald's next door.

Next week "Empire Records" is playing.