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The final hours of 2025 bring free festivities, live music and late-night celebrations to Falls Church, followed by outdoor excursions, performances, exhibitions and family activities across Northern Virginia and Washington in the opening days of 2026.

New Year’s celebrations

Watch Night Falls Church takes over the 100 block of East Broad Street from 7 p.m. to midnight Dec. 31. The free, all-ages event near Routes 7 and 29 will feature several primarily indoor venues.

An early program at the Historic Falls Church Episcopal, 115 E. Fairfax St., will offer guided tours from 5 to 8 p.m. Docents will discuss the circa-1769 church, where the Declaration of Independence was read aloud to Falls Church residents and where George Washington and George Mason served on the vestry.

Music at the church includes rock from the 1990s through today from 8 to 10 p.m. and American roots music by Randy Barrett & The Big Howdy from 9 to 11 p.m.

Falls Church Presbyterian Church, 225 E. Broad St., will host a children’s concert by 20Kv from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m., the Northern Lights Dance Orchestra from 8 to 10 p.m., Fairy Jennabelle children’s shows at 7:30 and 8:30 p.m., and local singer Gabe Nassar at 9:15 p.m.

Nearby dining and entertainment options include Ireland’s Four Provinces, Dogwood Tavern, the State Theatre, Thompson’s Italian, and Clare & Don’s Beach Shack.

Clare & Don’s, at 130 N. Washington St., will hold its own celebration from 9 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. Live music by Twinbrooks, a midnight champagne toast and one drink ticket are included with admission.

At Solace Outpost, 444 W. Broad St., DJ 360 will begin a no-cover New Year’s Eve party at 9 p.m. The event continues until 12:30 a.m., with no tickets required.

The New Year’s New Laughs Comedy Jam is scheduled at the DC Comedy Clubhouse, 2013 14th St. NW, on Friday, Jan. 2. Doors open at 8 p.m. and the show begins at 9 p.m. Chris Harrison will host national touring comics, headliners and special guests, with food, drinks, hookah, DJ music and an after-party atmosphere. The event listing also refers to three nights on Dec. 1, 2 and 3, although the featured date is Jan. 2. Questions may be directed to 571-244-0175.

Start 2026 outdoors

Great Falls Park will welcome the new year with two free, ranger-led First Day Hikes on Jan. 1. Reservations are required by emailing GWMP_VSnorth@nps.gov with “First Day Hike” in the subject line and the group size in the message.

“Go with the Flow” begins at 9 a.m. at Overlook 2. The 30- to 35-minute hike follows the relatively flat North River Trail and explores the importance of water, its role in daily health and household life, and ways to protect water sources. It is designed for children ages 6 to 10, although all ages may participate. The trail can accommodate wheeled devices.

“The Road Less Traveled” begins at 1 p.m. in the lower parking lot immediately beyond the fee booth. During the family-friendly, wheels-accessible half-mile round trip, a ranger will explain how Old Carriage Road served as an important route from the canal era into the 20th century. The program lasts about 30 minutes.

Both hikes take place outside, so participants should dress for the weather.

Film

The National Gallery of Art’s East Building Auditorium will present two programs connected with “Photography and the Black Arts Movement: 1955–1985,” an exhibition continuing through Jan. 11. Registration is required for both screenings.

“In Honor of Black Excellence: Speaking in Tongues” runs from 2 to 4:45 p.m. Jan. 3. The program brings together four works associated with the Black Arts Movement before a screening of Doug Harris’ rarely shown 1982 avant-garde jazz film “Speaking in Tongues.”

The opening selections are Julie Dash’s eight-minute 1975 film “Four Women,” pairing Nina Simone’s song with Linda Martina Young’s movement; Barbara McCullough’s six-minute 1979 “Water Ritual 1: An Urban Rite of Purification”; documentation of Senga Nengudi and Lawrence D. “Butch” Morris performing “Air Propo” in 1981; and William Greaves’ 40-minute documentary about the 1966 First World Festival of Negro Arts in Dakar, Senegal.

More than 2,000 participants from Africa and the African diaspora attended that festival, whose documentary includes Duke Ellington, Langston Hughes, Alvin Ailey, Aimé Césaire and Leopold Senghor.

“Speaking in Tongues,” originally funded by German Public Television, features saxophonist David Murray, percussionist Milford Graves and writer Amiri Baraka. The 75-minute work honors free-jazz saxophonist Albert Ayler, who died under mysterious circumstances in 1970. Greg De Cuir Jr. helped organize the program.

On Jan. 4, “still/here; Rough and Unequal” runs from 2 to 4 p.m. Christopher Harris’ 60-minute 2000 film “still/here” examines ruins and vacant lots on the predominantly working-class and working-poor African American north side of St. Louis.

It will be preceded by Kevin Jerome Everson’s 12-minute, two-screen 16mm installation “Rough and Unequal,” a 2017 work inspired by the waxing and waning moon. Everson and Harris will join guest curator Greg De Cuir Jr. for a discussion after the screening.

Theater

Synetic Theater’s wordless “Antony & Cleopatra” runs Jan. 9 through Jan. 25 at the Klein Theatre, 450 7th St. NW. Vato Tsikurishvili and Irina Kavsadze star in the physical-theater adaptation, which combines original music, movement, acrobatics and Georgian sword dancing. The production first premiered in 2010.

“Guys and Dolls” enters its final weekend at Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Harman Hall, 610 F St. NW, closing Jan. 4. Francesca Zambello directs, Joshua Bergasse choreographs, and the Frank Loesser musical runs approximately two hours and 30 minutes with one intermission. The source listing includes a no-fee offer using code “THANKS,” but says that promotion expired Nov. 30.

Nova Nightsky Theatre is presenting “Sylvia” at Falls Church Presbyterian Church’s Memorial Hall, 225 E. Broad St., through Feb. 6. The comedy follows the disruption that begins when Greg brings home a stray dog named Sylvia.

Ford’s Theatre, 511 10th St. NW, gives its final performance of “A Christmas Carol” on Dec. 31. Craig Wallace returns as Ebenezer Scrooge in the music-infused production, which lasts two hours with an intermission and is recommended for ages 5 and older.

“Fiddler on the Roof” continues at Signature Theatre, 4200 Campbell Ave. in Arlington, through Jan. 26. Joe Calarco directs the in-the-round staging of the story of Tevye, his family and a Jewish community confronting social change and rising antisemitism in czarist Russia. The running time is about two hours and 50 minutes, including an intermission. The production uses flashing lights, loud sounds and theatrical haze, includes a scene of antisemitic violence, and is recommended for ages 13 and older. Children under 6 are not admitted.

“Hello, Dolly!” closes Jan. 4 on Olney Theatre’s Roberts Mainstage, 2001 Olney-Sandy Spring Road in Olney, Maryland. Nova Y. Payton plays Dolly Gallagher Levi in the classic musical about matchmaking, love and second chances. Tickets are listed at $42 to $133, including service fees, and the production carries guidance comparable to a PG film.

Visual arts

Falls Church Arts’ all-media exhibition “Kinship” closes Jan. 4 at 700-B W. Broad St. and online. Juried by Glen Kessler, the show explores bonds within families, cultures and communities.

Idylwood Studios, 7617 Idylwood Road, is inviting community members to bring a current art project or use studio supplies during free “Art Together” gatherings.

Herndon artist Lisa Green’s “Wild Spaces” remains at Rare Bird Coffee Roasters, 230 W. Broad St., through Jan. 11. The free exhibition includes colorful oil paintings and black-and-white ink washes depicting meadows, mountains and coastlines. Works range from 8-by-10 inches to 36-by-36 inches and are available for purchase.

“Big Things for Big Rooms” opened Dec. 20 at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden and continues through July 4, 2027. The two-part exhibition presents 10 immersive works, including five making their museum debut. Artists include Dan Flavin, Sam Gilliam, Robert Irwin, Lygia Pape, Richard Long, Paul Chan, Olafur Eliasson, Spencer Finch, Rashid Johnson and Mika Rottenberg. Evelyn C. Hankins organized the show with CJ Greenhill Caldera.

The Renwick Gallery has acquired Joey Terrill’s “A Bigger Piece” for its permanent collection. The painting belongs to a still-life series Terrill began in 1997 after antiretroviral treatment made his HIV viral load undetectable. Medicines and consumer products appear on a Mexican striped blanket, reflecting his Chicano and gay identities. The arranged objects spell “LOVE.”

Reston Art Gallery’s “Holiday Sparkle Art Show” enters its final weekend, closing Jan. 4. The gallery is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays and noon to 5 p.m. Sundays.

“Portrait of a Nation: 2025 Honorees” continues through Nov. 8, 2026, in the National Portrait Gallery’s first-floor North Corridor. The exhibition features portraits of Jamie Dimon by Jason Alden, Temple Grandin by David Lenz, Joy Harjo by Joel Daniel Phillips, and Steven Spielberg by Kate Capshaw. Rhea L. Combs curated the presentation.

“Clearly Indigenous: Native Visions Reimagined in Glass” runs through May 29 at the National Museum of the American Indian. Approximately 120 pieces by 29 Indigenous artists trace 45 years of Native glass art. The exhibition also includes Dale Chihuly, who established the Institute of American Indian Arts’ first glass program, and collaborations involving Native, Yolŋu and Māori artists. Letitia Chambers and Cathy Short originally curated the exhibition in Santa Fe.

The National Museum of Women in the Arts presents “Women Artists from Antwerp to Amsterdam, 1600–1750” through Jan. 11. Work by more than 40 Dutch and Flemish women demonstrates their wide-ranging roles in the artistic economy. Paintings, prints, lace, embroidery, paper cuttings and sculpture reveal how family, class and social expectations shaped women’s training and careers during a period when colonial exploitation and the slave trade helped fuel European demand for luxury goods.

“The Stars We Do Not See: Australian Indigenous Art” remains at the National Gallery of Art through March 1. Admission is free, and passes are not required. Nearly 200 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander works span the late 1800s to the present, including bark paintings, desert maps, weaving, neon, video and photography. Drawn from the National Gallery of Victoria, the exhibition is described as the largest presentation of its kind in North America. Introductory tours are scheduled for Jan. 10 and 23 and Feb. 7 and 13, meeting at the East Building Information Desk.

“The Mirage of Ancient Egypt” continues through Feb. 13 at Mason Exhibitions’ Fenwick Gallery, 4400 University Drive in Fairfax. The show examines how Western colonial perspectives and popular culture have distorted perceptions of ancient Egypt. Its themes address commercialization, reconstructed spirituality and sexualized Orientalist imagery.

Joey Enríquez’s “as i look towards what could have been mine” runs through Jan. 25 at the Museum of Contemporary Art Arlington, 3350 Wilson Blvd. Through prose, prints, sculpture and found objects, Enríquez considers the American Southwest’s desert as a place of ancestry, memory, danger, beauty and spiritual rest. The artist, designer, educator and geographer draws on archival research and reclamation of their Nde, or Apache, indigeneity.

“Water’s Edge: The Art of Truman Lowe” closes Jan. 1 at the National Museum of the American Indian. The first major retrospective of the Ho-Chunk artist includes 50 sculptures, drawings and paintings. Lowe used willow branches, feathers and other organic materials to evoke Wisconsin waterways, canoes, cultural memory and relationships to place.

“Grandma Moses: A Good Day’s Work” runs through July 12 at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. The free exhibition reconsiders Anna Mary Robertson “Grandma” Moses, who began painting seriously in her late 70s and had her first solo exhibition at age 80 in 1940. Anchored by 33 works from the museum’s collection, it explores her memories of rural life, her celebrity and her contested place in American art.

“Material Acts of Resistance: Michèle Colburn” continues through Feb. 6 in the Founders Gallery at George Mason University’s Mason Square campus, 3351 N. Fairfax Drive in Arlington. Colburn’s mixed-media pieces transform gunpowder, wire, thread and burned paper into reflections on violence, vulnerability, endurance and dissent. The gallery is open daily from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.

The Phillips Collection presents “Out of Many: Reframing an American Art Collection” through Feb. 15 at 1600 21st St. NW. Marking the United States’ 250th anniversary, the exhibition examines how artists have portrayed the nation’s people, cultures, landscapes and histories from the early 20th century to today. Loans include work from Howard University Gallery of Art and the University of Maryland’s David C. Driskell Center.

A retrospective of photojournalist Bernard “Bernie” Boston continues through Feb. 24 at McLean Project for the Arts, 1234 Ingleside Ave., and Historic Pleasant Grove Church. Boston, a longtime McLean resident, became the first African American member of the White House press corps and covered presidents from Harry Truman through Bill Clinton. Phoebe Mills Farris curated the exhibition. The church portion may be viewed from 2 to 4 p.m. Jan. 11 and 25 and Feb. 8 and 22.

“Rik Freeman: Wade in the Waters” runs through Feb. 19 at Phillips@THEARC, 1801 Mississippi Ave. SE. The free exhibition explores history, community, faith, resilience and joy through waterways connecting places such as Bahia and the Anacostia River. Freeman has painted murals throughout the Washington area since 1989 and is also developing series about segregated Black beaches and African influences in Brazilian history.

“Material Witness,” at the Rubell Museum DC through fall 2026, brings together 30 artists using unconventional materials such as squid ink, Coca-Cola, ostrich eggs, anointing oil, lipstick, discarded metal and animal hides. Spread across 23 galleries, the exhibition connects assemblage with environmental, political and social questions.

Also continuing at the Rubell through fall 2026 is “Basil Kincaid: Spirit in the Gift,” Kincaid’s first solo museum exhibition in Washington. Four monumental quilts created during a 2023 residency at the Rubell Museum in Miami explore ancestry, identity, place and community through techniques influenced by quiltmaking, embroidery, freehand drawing and jazz.

Dance

Forever Dancing Ballroom, 5818 Seminary Road, Suite B in Bailey’s Crossroads, will host a free open house from noon to 3 p.m. Jan. 3, with doors opening at 11:30 a.m. The all-ages event includes partner-dance classes, demonstrations and special offers. Free parking is available.

Museums and family activities

“The Cold War” remains at the Fairfax Museum and Visitor Center, 10209 Main St., through Jan. 9. The traveling exhibition from the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History examines major events in the global struggle between the United States and Soviet Union from 1945 to 1991. Museum hours are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Monday.

The National Building Museum’s “Building Stories” introduces children and adults to architecture, engineering, construction and design through children’s literature. Curated by Leonard Marcus and created with contributions from author-illustrators David Macaulay and Oliver Jeffers, the exhibition includes hands-on activities, media, drawing, reading and building. It is designed as an intergenerational experience with special attention to children in kindergarten through third grade. Admission is $10 for adults, $7 for youths and seniors, while the Great Hall and museum shop remain free.

ZooLights concludes Jan. 3 at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo, 3001 Connecticut Ave. NW. The event features glowing animal lanterns, performances, seasonal food and approximately 1 million environmentally friendly LED lights. Hours are 5 to 9:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 5 to 8:30 p.m. Sundays, with final entry 30 minutes before closing. Admission is $9 for visitors ages 2 and older, and parking costs $30 per vehicle.

Winter sports

The National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden Ice Rink, at 7th Street and Constitution Avenue NW, remains open through March 1, weather permitting.

Hours are 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Each pass covers two consecutive 45-minute sessions, with ice maintenance during the final 15 minutes of every hour.

Admission is $15 for ages 13 and older. Children 12 and younger, adults 60 and older, students with identification, and military service members with identification pay $12. Skate rental costs $7, season passes are $250, and free lockers are available on a first-come, first-served basis.