Attendees of the third annual Anacostia River Festival in D.C. took advantage of Sunday's warm weather and danced, canoed and cycled at Anacostia Park. See photos.
WASHINGTON — It was a picture-perfect day for the third annual Anacostia River Festival at Anacostia Park on Sunday. Families played outdoor games, bicyclists paraded and then explored the riverfront trails. Some people took out canoes on the river, while others danced on the deep-green lawn.
People admired the spring day and strolled the grounds, checking out informational booths including those on conservation, clean water and the arts.
“You see it with the beauty of all the people, the mixture of people — young, old, black, white,” said Bishop Rainey Cheeks of Inner Light Ministries Church of Southeast D.C. as he and some of his congregants handed out palm fronds to commemorate Palm Sunday.
During the Anacostia River Festival on Sunday, people strolled the grounds, checking out informational booths including those on conservation, clean water and the arts while admiring the spring day.
(WTOP/Dick Uliano)
WTOP/Dick Uliano
Bishop Rainey Cheeks of Inner Light Ministries Church of Southeast D.C. and some of his congregants handed out palm fronds to commemorate Palm Sunday during the third annual Anacostia River Festival on Sunday.
(WTOP/Dick Uliano)
WTOP/Dick Uliano
The National Hand Dance Association demonstrated D.C.’s official dance–hand dancing. (WTOP/Dick Uliano)
(WTOP/Dick Uliano)
On stage, several couples held hands and partner-danced — either gracefully swirling to old school rhythm and blues or rocking to old school soul.
(WTOP/Dick Uliano)
WTOP/Dick Uliano
Families played outdoor games, bicyclists paraded and then explored the riverfront trails and some people took out canoes on the river while others danced on the deep-green lawn during the Third Annual Anacostia River Festival.
(WTOP/Dick Uliano)
WTOP/Dick Uliano
Anacostia Park is 99 years old with a rich history and a growing future ahead. About 40 acres will be added to the park with the construction of the 11th Street Pedestrian Bridge Park. It will include an ecological center, kayak docks and a meeting place according to National Park Ranger Vince Vaise.
(WTOP/Dick Uliano)
On stage, D.C.’s official dance — hand dancing — was capably demonstrated by the National Hand Dance Association. Several senior couples held hands and partner-danced — either gracefully swirling to old school rhythm and blues or rocking to old school soul.
“When we grew up back in the ’50s and ’60s that was the only kind of partner dances that we did,” explained Maxine Grant of D.C.
“The Twist, the Jerk, the Boogaloo — those are dances from the ’50s and ’60s,” she said.
Anacostia Park is 99 years old, with a rich history and a growing future ahead. About 40 acres will be added to the park with construction of the 11th Street Pedestrian Bridge Park.
“It’s going to be more than a pedestrian bridge,” said National Park Ranger Vince Vaise.
“There’s going to be an ecological center on it, there’s going to be meeting space on it, kayak docks under it. It’s going to be community space that spans this river and brings two communities of Washington D.C. together.”
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Whether anchoring the news inside the Glass-Enclosed Nerve Center or reporting from the scene in Maryland, Virginia or the District, Dick Uliano is always looking for the stories that really impact people's lives.