Grand Reopening of the MLK Library | Family Festival

Festival Overview | Games and Activities
Performance Schedule | Community Partner Gallery | Event Sponsors

Festival Overview

The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library reopened its doors last September with limited services, after a three-year, $200 million modernization. This year we are pulling out all the stops to celebrate in a GRAND way!

We are inviting you to celebrate with us at our all-ages grand re-opening celebration at MLK Library! Join us on Saturday, Sept. 25 from 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. for an outdoor family festival of fun activities, exciting performances by artists like go-go band Bela Dona, games for children, opportunities to connect with organizations from around the District, the 2nd Annual Know Your Power Teen Arts Festival, great author talks and interviews, food trucks and more! It will be a celebration to remember!

Tours of the new library will also be available. If you have not visited the MLK Library yet, we invite you and your family to come see our Rooftop Reading Garden, two-story Grand Reading Room, visit our Exhibit Space that showcases some of the most iconic memories in DC history. Hear the voice of Kojo Nnamdi as he narrates “Up from the People: Protest and Change in DC”, as part of the MLK Library permanent exhibit where we connect Dr. King to local activism. Visit our second-floor children and teen’s spaces as well as the Maker Labs on the A-Level. Did you know you can record your own podcast in our Labs free with your library card? Well, you can!

We look forward to seeing you on Sept. 25 as we celebrate a Day of Discovery! Most of this event will happen outside under the library’s loggia. Masks are required as part of the District’s mandate while inside the building.

Games and Activities

All Day G St. NW		Food Trucks from around the DMV
All Day Great Hall - First Floor		Caricatures
All Day Great Hall - First Floor		VR Experience
All Day Great Hall - First Floor		360 Photo Booth
10 a.m. - 1 p.m. Outdoor Loggia		Community Partners Gallery
10 a.m. - 1 p.m. Outdoor Loggia		Washington Mystics  Basketball Shooting Challenge
10 a.m. - 1 p.m.  Outdoor Loggia		I Spy at the MLK Library
10 a.m. - 1 p.m. Outdoor Loggia		Books from Birth Graduation Station
11 - 11:30 a.m. Outdoor Loggia		Washington Capitals Slapshot Appearance
2 - 5 p.m. Labs - A Level		Demonstrations at The Labs at DC Public Library
2:30 - 4 p.m. Great Hall - First Floor		Guided Tours of MLK Library

 

Performance Schedule

Main Stage | Outdoor Loggia

10:20 a.m.		Family Musical Performance with 123 Andrés
11:15 a.m.		Family Story Time with DC Public Library
11:40 a.m.		Get Energized with the Nationals Youth Baseball Academy!
12:05 p.m.		Family Musical Performance with Baba Ras D
1:05 p.m.		Dance Performance by Step Afrika!
1:25 p.m.		Dance Performance by Pop Lock Dancers Group
2:10 p.m.		Welcome the Afternoon Emcee - Dior Ashley Brown
2:15 p.m.		Poetry/Spoken Word Performance by Douglass Ridloff
3:30 p.m.		Hand Dancing Demonstration
4:10 p.m.		Musical Performance by Bela Dona

Auditorium | 4th Floor

Noon		Author Talk with Food Historian and Author Michael Twitty
3 p.m.		Know Your Power Author Talk with Artist an Author Tyler Gordon
4 p.m.		2nd Know Your Power Teen Art Contest Awards Ceremony

Great Hall | First Floor

4:30 p.m.

Lion Dancing by the Wong People Kung Fu Association

Labs at MLK | A Level 

2:30 p.m.

LIVE Recording of The Rewind Project Podcast | "The Day the Earth Stood Still"

Community Partner Gallery

In addition to the musicians, authors and artists joining us, guests will be able to interact with these amazing organizations from across the District.