Get ready to sip some hot drinks while you enjoy chilly activities in Southwest D.C.
The Fire & Ice Festival returns to The Wharf this Saturday from 1 to 4 p.m.
“This is our third year hosting the Fire & Ice Festival,” The Wharf’s Marketing & Communications Manager Julie Keleti told WTOP. “We hosted it in 2019 and 2020, then took a little break for COVID and now we’re finally back!”
The Wharf is partnering with Washington Gas to raise money for the Washington Area Fuel Fund, which helps people heat their homes if they can’t afford their bills.
“We will have an ice house on District Pier and guests will go in and experience what it’s like to not have heat in their homes and they’ll be able to make a donation,” Keleti said.
There will also be plenty of frosty games, including ice cornhole and ice shuffle board.
“The actual shuffle boards will be made completely out of ice,” Keleti said. “The entire cornhole boards will be made out of ice.”
What’s it like to pay cornhole on an icy surface?
“I’ve been told that you need to throw the bean bag up super high so that it lands straight down on the ice — that way it doesn’t come in at an angle and slide in and miss the hole,” she said.
After enjoying such chilly activities, you can warm up by dancing to a DJ, watching a performance of dazzling fire twirlers, scarfing down s’mores at the firepit and sipping whiskey at the waterfront bar, be it a Jack Daniel’s Hot Toddy or Guinness Old Fashion Beer.
Whiskey sampling tickets can be purchased at $15 for five tickets, including Jack Daniel’s, Uncle Nearest, District Made Spirits, Larceny Bourbon, Evan Williams, Filibuster Distillery, KO Distilling, Virginia Distillery Company, Sagamore Spirit, Shmidt Spirits and Lost Whiskey Distillery.
You can also purchase a bonus ticket to sip whiskey out of the ice luge.
The rest of the festival is free to attend.
Listen to our full conversation here.
