In D.C. Dream Day, we ask our favorite people in the area to tell us how they would spend a perfect day in the District.
Tracey Salazar
Amanda Sweet founded the performing arts-focused communications firm Bucklesweet.
When Amanda Sweet founded Bucklesweet, her D.C.-based communications firm specializing in performing arts, as a one-woman operation in 2008, she actively avoided D.C. clients. Sweet moved to Washington from New York in 2004, where she did PR for Atlantic Records and Concord Music Group, and was wary of (fully) leaving the Big Apple behind.
“I was so nervous leaving New York City and thinking, ‘I don’t want people to forget me,’ ” she says. “So I didn’t take on any D.C. clients for a long time.”
Eventually, the Brookland resident eased into picking up D.C. clients — particularly when her friend and mentor Jenny Bilfield hired her to work for Washington Performing Arts. “That really was the catalyst for getting more into the market here,” Sweet says.
The Radford, Va., native, who studied music at Shenandoah Conservatory, now has a list of clients that includes plenty of D.C. arts institutions — Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, Round House Theatre, the Washington Chorus, and, of course, WPA — alongside out-of-towners like the American Pianists Association, Ear Taxi Festival and Third Coast Percussion.
As D.C. reopens and more arts groups return to in-person performances, Sweet, 49, thinks we should look back on the past year and a half to learn from the innovative ways people kept live performance alive during the pandemic.
“I just hope that people remember what we’ve gone through and see that they can be creative,” Sweet says. “They don’t have to stick with the standard model: They can perform outside or they can do smaller audiences. I just hope that they remember that, and they don’t just return to what we had. You really have to be smart and creative.”
The arts play a surprisingly small role in Sweet’s perfect D.C. day, which favors her Brookland neighborhood, calming outdoor spaces and a little gluttony.
Bill O’Leary
The Washington Post
Freshly baked bagels from Bullfrog Bagels.
For my first stop, we’re going to Zeke’s Coffee on Rhode Island Avenue in Northeast for an iced latte. I go there a lot and I know the owners. Their kids go to school with my kids. An iced latte with oat milk is my go-to even in the winter.
Then we’re going to Bullfrog Bagels at Tastemakers in my neighborhood. It’s a little pop-up with a couple of different businesses. An everything bagel with egg and cheese is a special treat. It’s a good hangover cure, actually. For me, Bullfrog is the closest to New York bagels in D.C. They’re fresh, they’re doughy inside, they’ve got the crispy outside, and the right proportion of spices and garlic.
Katherine Frey
The Washington Post
The gardens of the Franciscan Monastery of the Holy Land in America.
The Franciscan Monastery of the Holy Land in America is just beautiful — it’s also in my neighborhood. It has replicas of shrines from the Holy Land, and I’m not even that religious. It’s a beautiful place to go to reflect on the day, or your life, or whatever the case might be. Bonus: Sometimes there’s a lady singing in one of the catacombs. And it’s just that voice resonating throughout, because you’ve got the concrete behind you and the gorgeous gardens in front of you that the Franciscan monks had created. I just do the grounds, I’ve never been inside. It’s very calm.
I want to grab my lunch and go to the National Arboretum . More gluttony because it is my dream day: Roaming Rooster , also in Northeast on Bladensburg Road. I’ll get the classic fried chicken sandwich. Two pieces of fried chicken. And they have an incredible vinegary slaw that they put on top. You can get some dipping sauces on the side. I like honey mustard.
Sarah L. Voisin
The Washington Post
Steve Gold, left, and Jenny Aley, sit on a bench in the Azalea Collection of the National Arboretum in April 2008.
There’s so many parks in this city that I adore so much. I would meet my family and some friends and, of course, our dog at the Arboretum. My husband, Matt, is a third-grade teacher and we have two kids: Liam and Reese. Our dog’s name is Cooper, he’s a hound, and he’s a covid rescue. I like to walk and eat because we’ve got a lot of things to see. I love the dogwood trees and I love the azalea walk. I always have to make a stop by the youth garden because I love that cool xylophone they have there. They have a stage and my kids have always gotten up and kind of made plays up on this stage. I have fond memories of it. Then I’d like to walk down to the Anacostia River, if the gates are open, to see the blue herons because they’re always gliding over.
Laura Chase de Formigny
for The Washington Post
A fried chicken sandwich with slaw and a side of house-cut fries from Roaming Rooster.
Me, my husband and our friends are going to go to the Gin Joint in Cleveland Park. Love that place because I love gin. It is my drink of choice. I would probably have a gimlet first, but I would ask them if they have anything special about the gimlet like a burnt rosemary twig or something — you know how bartenders like to make things fancy. I’d love to go there and sit at the bar and just talk to them about gin and mixers.
Now we’re stopping by another park, Meridian Hill Park , [whose lower half has closed for renovation]. I have an affinity for water and stairs, and I love how the water just falls down. I will probably walk up those stairs to the top.
For dinner, we’re going to my backyard where my friends that own the District Fishwife would cook for us because they are amazing chefs and they come over quite often. They always bring really interesting fish and interesting sauces and we grill and just sit around and talk and maybe play cards. I’d like barramundi fish with a green — kind of like chimichurri — sauce they make that’s all herbs that are pureed with olive oil. We would have a side of homemade scalloped potatoes, and a really good massaged kale salad. I’m probably drinking a crisp rosé.
Matt McClain
The Washington Post
A pedestrian walks along the cascading fountain, currently closed for renovation, in Meridian Hill Park.
After dinner I’m leaving everyone and I’m going up to the National Cathedral to hear the Tallis Scholars . They are a phenomenal English choral group. I really like to hear good choral music in a church because I love the resonance.
I’m going to come back to my house again. Everybody will probably be asleep and I’m going to lay in my hammock in the backyard and stare at the sky because I’m a cancer and I’m very much ruled by the moon. I always need to know where the moon is when I go outside at night. I’ll stare at the sky and listen to some great women jazz artists that I adore, like Dee Dee Bridgewater, Nancy Wilson, Mary Lou Williams. I have to close it out with Eva Cassidy. She’s just got one of those haunting voices and was from D.C.
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How performing-arts publicist Amanda Sweet would spend a perfect day in D.C. - The Washington Post
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