Monday, June 22, 2026
By Emma Ibrahim
As the District of Columbia prepares to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary, the Smithsonian Institution expanded its Solstice Saturday into a three-day weekend of exhibitions, shopping, music and festivities running from Friday, June 19, through Sunday, June 21.
On Friday and Saturday, as the sun set on the National Mall, several Smithsonian museums, including the National Museum of Natural History and the Hirshhorn, came alive with special after-hours programming extending to 11 p.m.
The Smithsonian Castle, which recently reopened its doors for the summer on May 22 while undergoing a major renovation, paid tribute to the nation’s founding ideals — innovation, opportunity and freedom — with its “American Aspirations” exhibition, co-curated by Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III.
From now through Sunday, July 26, visitors can view a selection of artifacts commemorating American progress, including a model of the Statue of Liberty by sculptor Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi and a flight suit worn by Amelia Earhart.
For the first time since 2004, the Arts and Industries Building, the Smithsonian’s second-oldest building, has resumed its regular public hours for the summer. One of its debut offerings celebrates folklife with live jazz music, a marketplace with vendors selling trinkets and home décor and displays that spotlight handmade works from previous Smithsonian Folklife Festivals.
In observance of Juneteenth, the Anacostia Community Museum hosted its largest Juneteenth Freedom Celebration yet with a block party-style event from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. and a late-night skating rink experience honoring the cultural legacy of Black roller skating.
The National Museum of African American History and Culture’s annual Juneteenth Community Day honored the enduring legacy of Opal Lee, regarded as the “Grandmother of Juneteenth,” with children’s readings, Go-Go performances and collage making.
Outside of the museum’s Sweet Home Café, a crowd formed, eager to get a taste of the café’s special Juneteenth-themed menu, inspired by African American culinary traditions.
The museum also unveiled two fine arts exhibitions: “Revelation: A Journey into Abstraction” and “Reset: Abstraction Embodied in Design.” The new exhibitions explore how abstraction has shaped African American artistic expression in painting, textiles and sculpture.
Visitors scoured the National Museum of Natural History on Friday in a self-guided scavenger hunt and made their own postcards as part of a new museum-wide project highlighting objects in its permanent collection from every U.S. state and territory.
The National Museum of Asian Art lit up Saturday night with a dance party on the museum’s plaza featuring music by DJ Armana Khan and alcoholic beverages at the Moongate Café, as well as exclusive curator tours and late-night shopping at the museum store.
From live performances and dance classes to a screening of the movie musical “Hairspray,” Indepen’Dance at the National Museum of American History immersed visitors in local culture with Go-Go music and hand dance, illuminating the ways that dance shapes and influences identity and community.