My family lives in Northern Virginia and traveling into DC requires a fair amount of logistics and planning. And despite me having to drag Husband begrudgingly into the car, by the time we get there we're always happy we made the trip. This past Saturday we attended the Southwest Waterfront Fireworks Festival which was one of the Cherryblossom Festival's events.
We were a little nervous, because the festival was from 1 to 9 pm, which was less than ideal with my kids' nap schedule. But we made it out of the house without any problems, and got lucky with street parking right in front of the Festival!
Walking down Maine Ave SW you could feel the energy of the festival. As we entered the grounds there was a live band playing country music. We walked along the waterfront and came across the Washington Kastles' tennis courts. There was another stage set up with a band, and the court was filled with people. There were five or six food trucks (burgers, empanadas, BBQ, cupcakes, Tasty Kabob, Chick-Fil-A, and DC Slices) and dozens of tents with vendors. We waited in one food truck line for a lengthy 45 minutes, but the food was good (sliders, garlic fries, and empanadas) - and the boys didn't seem to mind (they had a great time flirting with all the young ladies in line). After dinner we went down to the water and watched the Fireboat Spectacle (a fire boat shooting water up in the sky). The boys had a blast running around freely- stopping to flirt some more with ladies whenever they got the chance of course.
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We walked past a second entrance to the festival where there were stations with children's activities. There was balloon art, face painting, Japanese windsock decorating, model boat making and launch, and more. There was actually a third stage with another band (called The Diggity Dudes) playing kid-friendly music and keeping the energy alive. Although our boys didn't participate in the multitude of activities, they had a great time just walking up and down the waterfront and taking in all the views. The houseboats, the fireboats, the music, the people, etc.
We hadn't been to this festival before, so we weren't sure how all the events would play out. The Nen Daiko taiko Japanese drummers started the Fireworks Salute at 8pm which was accompanied by beautiful Koi lanterns "swimming" on the water.
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At 8:30 pm the fireworks began. They were beautiful. Butter Cheeks was a bit frightened by the noise (or as he said, he was "scay-ewed") and spent the entirety of the show snuggled into my leg. Flash, on the other hand, loved them and provided his commentary through the whole 20 minute display.
Our only regret was not staking out a good spot around 7:45 pm in order to see everything the show had to offer. Even with the challenges of traveling into the city with two little ones, Husband and I are happy we ventured out to this event. It was a wonderful cultural experience!
