Despite the fact that there's little that's truly Chinese about the District's Chinatown, the annual celebration of the Chinese New Year -- 2012 is the Year of the Dragon -- took place yesterday. Plenty of the city's great photographers were on hand to capture the color and character of the parade, and here's but a small sampling of yesterday's festivities. more ›

Parade is a musical that wreaks havoc on the emotions. more ›

There's little more American than the freedom of speech, and at yesterday's Fourth of July Palisades Parade, plenty of participants took advantage of the place and moment to practice it. more ›

We reported yesterday that Mayor Vince Gray was going to be missing tomorrow's rally for D.C. voting rights at the White House, leading some in the movement to grumble. Well, Gray seems to have changed his mind. more ›

On June 15, Mayor Vince Gray tweeted: "Would like to see President Obama fight actively for DC autonomy. Door to Wilson Building always open to him." The sentiment, which is loudly echoed by voting rights activists across the city, will be a central theme at a rally set for this Saturday in front of the White House. Gray, however, won't be there. more ›

Speedos! Pasties! Fabulous drag queens! Shirtless dancing Asian American cowboys! Dogs with rainbow-colored fur! Capital Pride Weekend -- which, like every year, appeared to serve as a two-day stimulus for the body paint industry -- is one of those events that's really far better remembered in photographs than words. more ›

It's never too early -- even if you're an Imperial Stormtrooper -- to celebrate a slice of the Irish life. Even though St. Patrick's Day won't officially be here for another ten days, that wasn't going to stop Alexandria from getting their green on and marching down King Street on Saturday. more ›

One of our favorite February traditions, the Chinese Lunar New Year Parade and Festival, took place yesterday around the streets of Chinatown. Things sound like they went a little smoother this year than during the previous two editions of the event -- in 2009, the traditional five-story firecracker display was delayed and eventually cancelled due to a suspected gas leak in the area, while in 2010, the presence (or lack thereof) of the Taiwanese flag was a source of serious contention. But the lack of drama was just fine with DCist staff photographer Kevin Carroll, who was able to focus his lens on the joyous aspects of the celebration. more ›

Several streets will close in and around Chinatown on Sunday for the annual Chinese New Year Festival and Parade. The parade itself will run from approximately 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., while the Festival -- including the setting off of a Giant Firecracker at 3:45 p.m. -- runs all afternoon. more ›

So if you haven't gotten your fill of the wacky and weird today, the Burning Man dragon is here! From what I heard at the 14th and U farmers market, some people thought today would be a great idea to get a permit for their huge metal dragon and drive it down 14th street. more ›

The District was the place to be this weekend, unless, that is, you were trying to drive around town. A World Cup party on Saturday morning and afternoon, capped by the annual Capital Pride Parade in the evening, followed by the Capital Pride Street Festival today. Always one of the more colorful and vibrant events in the District every year, the 2010 vintage of Capital Pride was absolutely no exception. Good thing our Flickr pool contributors and DCist contributor Crystal Park could battle the heat to to capture the jubilation on camera. more ›

As the holiday weekend comes to a close The Metropolitan Police Department and the U.S. Park Police are warning of one last slew of road closures in preparation for the Memorial Day Parade. The parade's route will take it from the corner of Constitution Avenue and 7th Streets NW, head west to 18th Street and turn north on Virginia Avenue into the dispersal area. The parade steps off at 2 p.m. and will last about three hours, however several closing have been in effect since this morning. more ›

The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus is back in town (this year's show is titled Zing Zang Zoom, and is at the Verizon Center March 18 to 21), and with it comes the annual Elephant Walk. The parade is set to start this afternoon at 1:30 p.m. from Garfield Park, make its way north on 3rd Street and cut over to the Verizon Center. If you'd like to make sure you get a look at the animals, you can call (866) 683-3670 for updates, or follow @DCElephantWalk on Twitter. more ›

This weekend sure is a busy one. What with the National Cherry Blossom Festival Parade is on Saturday morning, the Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10-Mile Run and 5K Run-Walk on Sunday morning, plus Wizards, DC United and Nationals games all happening on Saturday night, off-peak hours this weekend on Metro are likely to resemble rush hour. In order to keep up, Metro has no weekend track work scheduled, and they've instituted a number of service changes. more ›

We told you last week that the annual Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus Pachyderm Parade was set to begin this morning at around 10 a.m. at Garfield Park. Reader Elisabeth Grant confirms the parade got off to an on-time start this morning, and sent us the capture below, taken at about 10:30 a.m. from her office window on 4th Street SE in the Capitol Hill neighborhood. Check our map of the elephant parade route to see if the animals are heading toward you. more ›

Plenty of our Flickr contributors went down to enjoy the annual Chinese Lunar New Year Parade on Sunday afternoon. Unfortunately, a lot of folks ended up disappointed by the sudden cancellation of the traditional five-story firecracker display. The lighting of the giant firecracker was finally called off after being delayed for a full two hours due to a suspected gas leak. We've heard from a lot of parade spectators who stood by through the entire delay and were none too pleased to have been let down after waiting so long. D.C. fire spokesperson Alan Etter told the Associated Press that a strong odor of gas appeared to be coming from a manhole near 6th and H Streets NW, and apparently fire officials exercised extreme caution by eventually deciding to the cancel the pyrotechnics. more ›

At about 4:15 p.m., a group of about 20 drummers and musicians were parading down the middle of 13th Street NW in Columbia Heights, playing their instruments and headed south to the African American Civil War Memorial at 10th and U Streets NW. The group brought along a wheeled cart with drums and other instruments on it. more ›

Reader Matt Ashburn sent in these captures of workers installing special street lamp globes adorned with golden eagles along Pennsylvania Ave. The eagles are being placed in time for the inaugural parade on Jan. 20. more ›

Last week, WTOP was guesstimating that as many as 2,000 to 3,000 port-a-potties were being ordered to place around the city for Inauguration Day, but today the Post gets the scoop on the actual number: 5,000! Yes, 5,000 portable toilets will be installed along the parade route and around the National Mall, more than double the 2,200 provided in 2005. We'll say one good thing about the likelihood that it's going to be a cold day in Washington on January 20 -- at least the smell of all that human waste has a good chance of being tamped down by freezing temperatures. more ›

According to the Washington Business Journal, there are still hotel rooms to be had in the D.C. metro area during the presidential inauguration next month. The paper is pointing to Destination DC's assertion that it currently has a line on over 1,400 available hotel rooms within 30 miles of the city. Anyone still looking for a room is being encouraged to call Destination DC's toll-free number, 1-800-422-8644, to inquire about available lodging. Of course, the key line is that the rooms that are left are going for per night prices ranging "from $100 to more than $1,000 per night." Good luck finding anything on the lower end of that scale. more ›

If you won't be in D.C. for Barack Obama's inauguration on Jan. 20, you have a chance to at least get a sense of what you'll be missing earlier that month. The Post reported today that the official inaugural rehearsal date has been set for Jan. 11. The inauguration dress rehearsal, which features stand-ins for most of the VIPs, is done every year early in the morning on a Sunday before the inauguration. This year's rehearsal runs from 5:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. that morning, and will allow the Armed Forces Inaugural Committee to run through the program twice in a row. The rehearsal will be open to the public, so if you feel like getting up early that morning, head down to Pennsylvania Ave. to catch a preview of some of the bands that will be playing in the inaugural parade. more ›

The Inaugural Parade has seen more than its fair share of controversy over the last few years. In 2001, a few protesters scuffled with police, resulting in six arrests. In 2005, D.C. police were accused by the ACLU of making false arrests and indiscriminately using pepper spray during the inauguration festivities. This past March, a federal court ruled that the park service had violated the First Amendment by preventing war protesters from getting near the parade. So news over the weekend that the National Park Service has proposed new rules about where the public can be during the parade come as no surprise. more ›

Even though it literally rained on our Capital Pride parade this year, the spirit of celebration certainly wasn't dampened. Here's just a few of our favorite shots from the DCist Flickr pool. more ›

In case you haven't noticed, it's Capital Pride week here in D.C. The 33rd annual celebration of all things LGBT in the nation's capital culminates in a parade tomorrow and the street festival on Sunday. more ›

The Cherry Blossom parade will modify many downtown Metrobus routes this weekend. The parade starts this Saturday at 10 a.m. and marches on Constitution Avenue between 7th and 17th streets, and will force the 5A, 13, 32, 34, 35, 36, 52, 54, 66, 70, 80, P6, S2, S4 and V8 to alter their routes until about 1 p.m. If you plan on taking any of these buses tomorrow, you should expect delays. more ›

The United States Park Police, DDOT and MPD have released the following road closure advisories for Saturday's Veterans Day Parade. All closures should be re-opened by 5 p.m. Saturday. more ›

There's something inherently likable about about Spencer Krug. Just ask Wolf Parade bandmate Dan Boeckner who snidely referred to him as the guy that everybody likes. Although that was a clear barb, Boeckner has a point. Dante DeCaro, another fellow Wolf Parade member likes him enough to continue touring with Krug (under the moniker of opener Johnny & The Moon). Fellow Canadians Carey Mercer (Frog Eyes) and Dan Bejar (Destroyer) like him enough to work... more ›

Saddle Creek Records was kind enough to let us offer DCist readers a couple of free MP3s in honor of the first Georgie James music video, which just hit the Internets for the first time yesterday. Sure sure, you're busy listening to the new Radiohead album you just downloaded this morning, but go ahead and download these while you're at for later listening. They're free, after all. Both tracks are from the band's recently... more ›

The high point of this week in classical music is surely the Lieder recital by the superlative German baritone Christian Gerhaher and his regular pianist collaborator, Gerold Huber, sponsored by the Vocal Arts Society at the Embassy of Austria (October 11, 7:30 p.m.). Gerhaher's most recent Lieder recording is a knockout, and his program for Thursday night is devoted entirely to songs by Robert Schumann. THE SYMPHONY: >> Riccardo Chailly brings his La Scala Philharmonic... more ›

>> There's a new webcam available showing the progress of Monument Realty's Half Street project, which includes the expansion of the Navy Yard Metro station. [Near Southeast DC Redevelopment] >> Georgetown student pleads not guilty in hate crime investigation. [WJLA/AP] >> Members of the Metro board representing D.C. are pushing for higher parking fees at suburban stations in order to avoid increasing bus fares. [Examiner] >> A bunch of streets will be closed this... more ›