I'm down on the National Mall in today's video I'm going to show you around the 2017 Smithsonian Folklife Festival.
Hello! Welcome to Trip Hacks DC - my name is Rob. If you're coming to Washington DC
and you're looking for the best tips, tricks, and hacks for exploring the city, make sure to subscribe to this channel and hit the bell
notification icon so that you don't miss anything. And if you want to have me show you around the National Mall
just like this when you come, head on over to my website TripHacksDC.com
afterwards, and you'll see the tours that I offer. Today
I'm down on the National Mall, and I'm going to be showing you around the Smithsonian Folklife Festival.
This is a bit different format from my previous videos,
so leave a comment on this let me know whether you like this new format, or whether you hate it,
and if I should keep doing more of these. The Folklife Festival is held every year around Independence Day here on the National Mall. It started in
1967 which means - believe it or not - this is actually the 50th anniversary. It's a celebration of cultural heritage featuring cultures from all around the globe.
Usually there are a few distinct themes - this year there are three.
The first is circus arts, which is just about what you would imagine -
trapeze, clowns, and that kind of stuff. The second is called On the Move, which is all about
migration and movement around America. And the last is called 50 Objects 50 Years,
because like I said, this is actually the 50th anniversary of the festival.
I'm standing at the clown alley tent right now - it's behind me - and one of the clowns about to apply her makeup,
which is really cool because you always clowns and they're all made up
but you never really know what goes on behind the scenes and she's about to show us, so I'm going to go check it out.
So the cool thing about that show was that it wasn't just a clown putting on her makeup
they really walked you through every step of the process - told you what was happening, told you some stories about clowning,
and that's the cool thing about the Folklife Festival, is that it's really educational as well as being entertaining. Right now
I'm at the juggling tents where they're teaching people how to juggle. They're going to start a show soon
I'm hoping to catch will catch, so let's go see that.
There's a ton of awesome stuff happening over at the circus arts section of the festival - there's juggling,
there's foot juggling, and acrobatics everywhere - so many acrobatics. It's just really cool to see.
When you come down to the festival, it's a good idea to bring some water with you.
They do sell water here, but it's a little expensive - not ballpark extortion expensive,
but it's probably best if you just bring your own. And definitely remember your sunscreen because this is July in Washington DC
which is the hottest month of the year here and it can get pretty brutal during the hottest times of the day.
I'm headed over to the Big Top Tent right now
which is where they have a lot of the main events
for the circus arts portion of a festival. The festival hours in general are 11:00 a.m.. It's about 5:30 p.m.
that's when most of the events here are happening down on the National Mall.
This year's festival also has some evening events in the Big Top Tent you look like they're going to be pretty cool.
It's just past noon right now and unfortunately that means I just missed the show that started in the Big Top Tent at noon. The next
show doesn't start until 2:00
but I can tell you just from standing outside that the crowd is going wild and it sounds like a really, really awesome show.
I'm over in the On the Move section of the festival now. This is the secondary theme so
it doesn't have quite as much to see or do as the main circus arts theme
but let's take a walk around and see what kind of cool stuff they have going on over here.
I'm standing in front of the Arts and Industries Building right now. This is one of the oldest buildings on the National Mall
It actually opened in 1881
And is one of these first Smithsonian museums. Unfortunately the building has been vacant for well over a decade now
It closed in 2004 for a major renovation and since then it is basically not been used
They do allow it to be open for special events like the marketplace here at the Folklife Festival
Which is what we're going to go in and check out next.
One hack that's probably going to be useful to a lot of people is that in addition to the marketplace there are actually some
performances that are scheduled here inside the Arts and Industries Building.
So this is a really good way to get inside and out of a hot sun. And yes, it is air-conditioned in here.
Thank you for watching if you stuck around to this point.
If you're coming to Washington DC in
2017 hopefully I've given you a flavor of what this year's Folklife Festival is all about
I really do think that the circus arts theme is one of the cooler that they've had in a while.
And if you're watching this video after
2017 hopefully I've given you a general sense of what you can expect when you come down to the Folklife Festival.
And it is completely free, unless you're going to buy some food for some souvenirs
you can come down here,
see some awesome stuff, and you won't have to pay a penny.
If you found this video helpful
you can subscribe to the channel by clicking on the Trip Hacks DC logo
which is popping up right now at the bottom of the screen. And if you're coming to Washington DC
and want to have me show you around here on the National Mall
you can click on the Capitol dome which is right now on the left side of my head that will take you over to my
website where you can see the tours that I offer.
Enjoy your trip!