YIKES! at SPARK!
Sun, Oct 4* | 10am-2pm | 2700 Art Space | Green Valley
*Rain Date Oct 11
Join for a special Halloween-themed YIKES! at SPARK! SPARK! is a fun inclusive outdoor market with handpicked art and food vendors, and programming including poetry, music and art making. This month you can get a free custom poem written for you by Arlington Poet Laureate Emerita Katherine E. Young, listen to DJ Caroline Wentworth of Cinema Hearts, and find a lot of new local arts vendors! Check on social media for weather updates.
Don't miss the Monster Meet & Greet! Something strange is coming to SPARK! this October. Mysterious monsters will be roaming the market, ready to pose for photos and possibly make a few new friends. Pick up something unique at their Spooky Flea Market, and keep your eyes open. Who will you meet?
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Celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month with Free Movie Nights at 2700 Art Space!
thru Oct 16 | 6-9pm | 2700 Art Space | Green Valley
Celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month with community-curated films highlighting Latin music in film. Come early for food, music, and community (6pm). Film screenings start at sunset (7pm). Don't forget a chair or blanket!
Friday, October 9: Equal parts love letter and history lesson, Mambo Legends: The Music Never Ends provides a bridge for modern audiences to the golden era of Latin jazz in New York City in the early 1940s, when the Machito Orchestra fused the big band sound with the rhythms of Africa, Cuba, and Puerto Rico to create a new genre of music beloved around the world. Come before the film for a conversation between director Mari Keiko Gonzalez and Jim Byers of WPFW's "Latin Flavor Classic Edition".
Be sure to come early and check out Tang and Sizzle for stone baked artisanal pizza, salads, sandwiches, and dessert pies, and Don Churro for fresh handmade churros, aguas frescas, hot and iced Mexican Pot coffee, and ice cream churro sundaes.
View more about Free Movie Nights at 2700 Art Space.
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The Nature of Poetry
Sat, Oct 3 | 10am-2pm | Lubber Run Park | Arlington Forest
Join Courtney LeBlanc, Arlington Poet Laureate Emerita, for a short walk through Lubber Run Park. The walk will include several stops where the group will gather and Courtney will read a poem that has a nature theme. A brief discussion about the poem will follow. Courtney will provide a prompt at the conclusion of the walk, and the group can write their own nature-inspired poem.
View more about Nature of Poetry.
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Festival Latinoamericano
Sat, Oct 3 | 5-9pm | Arlington Mill Community Center | Arlington Mill
Celebrate the vibrant cultures, traditions and heritage of Latin America at Arlington County's Festival Latinoamericano! This free community event features indoor and outdoor festivities, including live entertainment, authentic food, local artisans, cultural exhibits, family-friendly activities and community organizations.
View more about Festival Latinoamericano.
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Museum of Contemporary Art Arlington
Night Market x Art After Hours
Sat, Oct 3 | 5pm - 8pm | MoCA Arlington | Virginia Square
Shop the outdoor Night Market, enjoy food + drink, and vibe with the Art After Hours happening throughout the Museum of Contemporary Art Arlington.
- Art After Hours: Celebrate the new exhibitions
- ASSEMBLY 2026: Common Wealth, Dusk in the Dawnland, New South, New Ground, and to eat out their substance
- Emily Fussner: Some Shining Coil of Wind
- Visit with MoCA Arlington Resident Artists in their studios
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Night Market: 20+ selected artist and makers selling their work!
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Check out The Wandering Self a mobile Arlington bookstore
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Food and drink: Tang & Sizzle, Rossana Mobile Espresso Experience
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A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Oct 9-Oct 24 | Theatre on the Run | Green Valley
Forget everything you think you know about this classic comedy. This production by Dominion stage transforms Shakespeare's enchanted forest into the eerie hills of Appalachia, blending folklore, superstition, and folk horror into a haunting, theatrical experience. Expect ancient rituals, unsettling magic, and a world where the woods are alive - and always watching.
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11th Annual Scripts in Play Festival
Oct 2-Oct 18 | Fridays 7:30 pm, Sundays 2pm | multiple locations | Ballston/Virginia Square
Avant Bard’s Scripts in Play Festival is an annual new play development program dedicated to supporting bold new works that engage with classical themes, texts, and ideas. Through free staged readings, collaborative rehearsal, and audience conversation, the festival gives playwrights an opportunity to hear their work aloud, explore it with a director and actors, and continue refining the script in process.
- Oct 2 & 4: Every Single Ophelia, written by Ryan Stevens, directed by Kathleen Akerley
- Oct 9 & 11: Three Sisters, written by Suneeta Misra, directed by Mekala Sridhar
- Oct 16 & 18: Gracie vs. The People, written by Shoshannah Boray, directed by Tara Giordano
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Rosslyn Fall Fest
Sat, Oct 3 | 1-6pm | NOW Pop-Up Park | Rosslyn
Celebrate fall your way at this year’s Rosslyn Fall Fest! Whether autumn means sipping local ciders, decorating pumpkins with the kids, or enjoying live music, Fall Fest is packed with festive fun for all ages and the perfect way to spend a crisp October afternoon in Rosslyn. This year is bigger than ever — think neighborhood block party vibes! Enjoy live music from soulful musician Justina Beth-El from 1-3 p.m., and local band Loyal Skeptics from 3:30-6 p.m. who will perform fan-favorite songs from every decade.
View more about Rosslyn Fall Fest.
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Pike Fest 2026
Sat, Oct 10 | 12-6pm | Penrose Square | Penrose
Enjoy local food and drinks, music, family-friendly activities, and pike photos, all designed to showcase and uplift the businesses that make the Pike special.
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Seeing Time: Artists’ Immersive Experiences of an Abstract Concept
Wed, Oct 7 | 12-1:30pm | virtual
Explore artists whose work makes time visible, changing how we see and understand it. Moderated by curator Leigh A. Arnold, this panel discussion, featuring Angela Anderson Adams, Alicia Eggert, and Sandy Williams IV, will explore artists whose work contemplates the present moment, makes time visible, and shapes the way we perceive and understand different aspects of time, from the immediate to the infinite.
View more about Seeing Time: Artists’ Immersive Experiences of an Abstract Concept.
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