Mason District Park Festival This Weekend

Update: The due to Friday's rain.

Looking for a free family event this weekend? Saturday marks the 32nd year of the annual Mason District Park Festival in Annandale. The festival includes live entertainment, crafts, hayrides, pony rides, a moon bounce and police and fire department demonstrations.

Admission is free, although individual rides require tickets. The festival begins at 10 a.m. and runs through 4 p.m.

The festival began in 1980 in large part through the efforts of then-Mason District Supervisor Tom Davis to draw more people to the newly established park. Davis, along with local PTA and civic leaders, formed the Friends of Mason District Park group and sponsored the first festival in October of that year.

The festival has since become an annual event, drawing thousands of local residents every year. Mason District Supervisor Penny Gross said she was proud to have been associated with the festival for its entire 32-year history.

“It’s a wonderful tradition for families, and what is really neat is to see children who came to the festival in its early years bring their children back to see the festival again and to enjoy it,” she said. “It’s just a wonderful, free, family event, and I am thrilled to be part of it.”

This year’s entertainment line-up is as follows:

• 10 a.m. – DinoRock. The DinoRockers invite you to meet eight wacky oddballs from the Mesozoic Era, including the thick-headed Pachycephalosaurus; Lumpy and his son, Bumpy; Sarah, the Saharan Suchomimus who only thinks of eating fish; the very cool Elvis, the Cryolophosaurus found in Antarctica; and the little lost T-Rex toddler named Wuzzy, who has feathers.
• 11 a.m. – Hui O Ka Pua `Ilima. Hui O Ka Pua `Ilima performs traditional and contemporary songs and the dances of Hawaii and the Polynesian islands.
• 12:15 p.m. – Chin Hamaya Culture Center. Enjoy the beauty of traditional Okinawan music and dance combined with dragon and lion dances.
• 1:15 p.m. – Fairfax Swing Band. In the tradition of Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey and other big bands of the 1940s, the Fairfax Swing Band has been wowing audiences since 1989 with music from the big band era through contemporary sounds.
• 2:15 p.m. – The Reunion Music Society Jazz Orchestra. The Reunion Music Society Jazz Orchestra performs selections from jazz notables such as Duke Ellington, Charlie Bird and Miles Davis, along with songs from Broadway shows.

Directions: Mason District Park is located at 6621 Columbia Pike in Annandale. From the Capital Beltway, take Exit 52B (Little River Turnpike, Route 236), go east for two miles, take a right at John Marr Drive, then another right onto Columbia Pike. The park entrance is on the right just before Sleepy Hollow Road.