Smithsonian Folklife Festival

These past two weeks was the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, which is held each summer. It's only open to the public on the weekends, but one Tuesday over the two weeks it is open to Smithsonian staff for the annual Smithsonian Institution picnic. I went last year too (you can read that post here), and had a fun time, so I decided to take half a day off to go into DC and explore the festival again this year. 

Each year two countries are chosen to be represented; this summer the two countries were Kenya and China! The festival on the National Mall comprises of culture and food from these two nations. The majority of the cultural tents are not open during the SI picnic, but the food and drink definitely is. I had a Kenyan chicken dish and a Kenyan beer with interesting undertones, both of which were really good!

 At the SI picnic bands from throughout the Smithsonian Institution put on a performance. We watched a band from the anthropology department at the Museum of Natural History. They were good! Unfortunately, we misjudged the time and where the SERC band was playing. But we did get to see these children who were brought by their counsellors to run around to the music - basically get all their energy out so they would be calmer, I understand that situation! On the China side of the mall, there was this Flower Plaque tent - a really vibrant wooden structure! There was also this casual little man structure. His name is Tian Tian, though we never could figure out who he is or why he was there. I had a fun half day in DC before heading into work for a good several hours!