The second annual Out & About Festival returns to Wolf Trap in Vienna, Virginia, this weekend.
It’s a double meaning for celebrating Pride Month and nature at Wolf Trap National Park.
“We had our first Out & About Festival last year and we had a lot of fun, so we thought, ‘Let’s do it again,'” Wolf Trap President and CEO Arvind Manocha told WTOP. “We’re going to be using all three of our stages. … We’re celebrating music, nature and pride. Of course it’s in Pride Month, then the nature part of it is really getting people out into the park and exploring parts of Wolf Trap they might not already be familiar with.”
The festival kicks off at 3 p.m. on Saturday with five artists alternating between two outdoor stages on the vast grounds of the national park. This is your chance to watch D.C. musician Be Steadwell (Meadow Stage), as well as Quinn Christopherson (Wood Stage), Okan (Meadow Stage), Tiny Habits (Wood Stage) and Lawrence (Meadow Stage).
“Behind the Filene Center and over to the left we have a beautiful meadow (with) what we call our Meadow Stage, an open-air stage with beautiful grass in front,” Manocha said. “If you walk even further behind the Filene Center, there’s almost 100 acres of forest back there, including hiking trails and a big pond, a really magical spot. In a little clearing in the forest, we’ll have our Wood Stage … that’s what we use for our children’s theater in the summer.”
After a short break at 6:30 p.m., the festival moves into the Filene Center around 7 p.m. for the headlining acts, including Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth, Jenny Lewis of Rilo Kiley and Brittany Howard of Alabama Shakes.
“We have been fans of all of these artists for a long time,” Manocha said. “In thinking about these three women headlining the main stage on the Filene Center stage, I feel like we’ve got indie-rock royalty, indie-rock darlings and Brittany Howard, who is just such a powerhouse, and all three making their debuts at Wolf Trap this summer. For us, having them making their debuts on a festival like this just makes it all that more special.”
Not only will you see plenty of rainbow flags and colors, you’ll see park rangers in their nature garb.
“The Out & About Festival is about music, nature and pride,” Manocha said. “Clearly, it’s during Pride Month with a whole host of queer and queer-ally artists, but it’s also about getting ‘out and about’ into nature, coming into the park and not just going to the Filene Center but taking the day to explore all the different areas of the park.”
