The National Mall was transformed into somewhat of a wintry battlefield Tuesday morning as people gathered for a snowball fight.
Amid cancellations throughout the region due to a winter weather advisory, the Washington D.C. Snowball Fight Association issued a call to battle that turned the mall into a scene of pure snowball carnage.
Michal Lippen, with the association, picked the setting for the snow showdown. It’s a tradition in D.C. with the first fight organized by the association dating back to 2010, Lippen said.
“You’ve got a view of the monument one direction, you’ve got the Capitol the other direction, and the snow is nice and spread out,” he told WTOP.
The gathering happens in what Max Bluestein characterized as “polarized” city.
“A lot of anxiety, a lot of hate, a lot of ideology, we kind of put all that to the side once in a blue moon when it snows out here,” he said. “We pelt each other snowballs, and we act like kids.”
Dozens of people of all ages floated, zinged and whipped snowballs with some even participating in a quick fight before logging into work.
And it wouldn’t be much of a snowball fight without some shots to the face and some tears.
“Took a couple of my head, one on the nose and one where it was really sensitive and that one took me out,” Bluestein said.
WTOP’s Jessica Kronzer and John Domen contributed to this report.
See photos of the big snowball fight as well as photos from a popular sledding spot in Prince George’s County, Maryland, below.
