Portside In Old Town Summer Festival Planned Over 2 Days In Alexandria

ALEXANDRIA, VA — Old Town will offer a little something extra for visitors the next weekend as the Portside in Old Town Summer Festival returns. The event is planned 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday at Waterfront Park, 1A Prince Street.

The festival held by Visit Alexandria with the City of Alexandria’s Office of the Arts, is merging with the Alexandria Jazz Fest. The jazz festival, typically held over Memorial Day weekend, instead will be part of an expanded two-day Portside in Old Town Festival. This is the first time since 2019 the Portside in Old Town Summer Festival will be held.

To kick off the event, the 44th Annual Alexandria Jazz Fest will feature jazz performances and readings by Alexandria poets from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Performances will include jazz from Cubano Groove, VERONNEAU and the Eric Byrd Trio, at 6:15 p.m., 7:15 p.m. and 8:15 p.m. ,respectively. In between sets, poetry will be read by new Alexandria Poet Laureate Zeina Azzam, former Poet Laureate KaNikki Jakarta, and an emerging Alexandria youth poet.

On Saturday from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m., the music will continue with performances by Eli Lev (folk rock), La Unica (Irish Latin rock); ilyAIMY (folk rock), Rob Curto’s Forró for All (Brazilian forró); Ras Band (Ethiopian reggae, jazz and funk) and Pablo Antonio y La Firma (salsa, merengue and bachata). The guest musical curators and embees will be Vaughn and Robyn Ambrose, Alexandria-based musicians and founders of the Yellow Door Concert Series.

In between enjoying musical performances, attendees can check out family-friendly activities from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. The city's Office of the Arts will have a screen-printing activity by Patrick Sargent inspired by I Love You, the public art exhibit at Waterfront Park. Intertribal Creatives will have a pop-up version of their Old Town gallery with Native-made art and other items, Safe Space NOVA will have friendship bracelets, games and other activities, archaeologists from the Office of Historic Alexandria will provide artifacts, STEM activities and information about four recently excavated historic ships, and Bill Jenkins’ World of Music will have musical instruments to try and a jam session. Other art activities will be offered by The Art League, the Torpedo Factory Art Center and UpCycle Creative Reuse Center.

Aside from music and activities, attendees can try local craft beer from Alexandria's Port City Brewing Company as well as food and drinks from Borinquen Lunch Box, Chalkboard Wings & BBQ, Dolci Gelati and The Italian Place.

For more information, visit PortsideFestival.com.

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