A Guide To Del Ray's First Thursday: Staycation

ALEXANDRIA, VA—If you haven't gotten a chance to go on vacation this summer, Del Ray's next First Thursday will make up for it. Del Ray's Aug. 3 street festival will have a "staycation" theme.

The free street festival runs from 6 p.m. to dusk along Mount Vernon Avenue, offering summer activities including:

• Live music at the Pat Miller Neighborhood Square
• Beach Yoga with Mind the Mat Pilates and Yoga at 6:45pm at the Bean Creative field. Bring a beach towel! Families welcome.
• Skateboarding with The Board Bus
• Alexandria history with John Chapman's Manumission Tours
• Upcycled cheese boards with Cheesetique
• 2nd Annual Watermelon Seed Spittin' Contest at Pork Barrel BBQ
• Photo booth and snow cones at Bellies and Babies
• Where's the Sheriff? (Kids: find the sheriff at a mystery location for a fun prize)
• Stories around the world with Duncan Library on the breezeway between Neighborhood Pharmacy and Greener Cleaner
• At-Home Spa with Wise Light Wellness and Essentially Focused in front of Bon Vivant Cafe
• Greenstreet Gardens kicks off their weekend-long celebration of shop cat Della’s one-year anniversary

Every month, the festival collects donations for a different non-profit. This month's recipient is Blessings in a Backpack, which provides weekend food for needy elementary school children across the U.S. First Thursday attendees are asked to bring single serving-sized, non-perishable food. (For more information on this and other neighborhood stories, subscribe to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

Suggested donations are boxes of granola bars, fruit snacks, juice boxes, individual cups of nut butter, boxes of instant oatmeal in single-serving packets, individual-size boxes of cereal, breakfast-in-a-cup selections, noodle cups, packets of heat-and-eat rice, and shelf-stable entree options.

The street festivals are held every first Thursday of the month from April to September along Mount Vernon Avenue. Sponsored by the Del Ray Business Association and the Jen Walker Team, every month has a different theme.

Image via R. Kennedy/Visit Alexandria