Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Birthday - One of the city's most popular annual events is the celebration of the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., which is marked by singing, dancing and feasting. The highlight of the day's remembrances is an orator's recital of King's "I Have a Dream" speech. It is appropriately recited where King himself first gave it.

National Cherry Blossom Festival - In 1912, Mayor Yukio Ozaki of Tokyo presented 3,000 beautiful cherry trees to the people of Washington, D.C. Today the National Cherry Blossom Festival commemorating that gift is one of D.C.'s most popular cultural events. Each year more than 700,000 visitors come to admire the trees that mark the beginning of spring in the capital.

White House Easter Egg Roll - Egg rolling in Washington is a long-standing tradition dating back to press accounts from as early as 1872. The first White House Easter Egg Roll was held in 1878 under President Rutherford B. Hayes. Today the tradition continues with other Easter-themed games that have developed over the years.

Capital Jazz Festival - An impressive display of contemporary jazz music, this outdoor festival draws tens of thousands of jazz lovers. It began in 1993 and has showcased a stellar collection of performers since that time, including Kenny G, David Sanborn, George Benson, Kem, Stanley Clarke, Grover Washington, Jr., Joe Sample, Boney James, Nancy Wilson, Will Downing, Rick Braun, Incognito, Al Jarreau, Brian Culbertson and Fourplay.

Cultural Attractions
Smithsonian Institution - The Smithsonian boasts an impressive 19 museums, 9 research centers and more than 140 affiliate museums around the world. Below we'll highlight just a few of the many fine museums in the city, but there are many more including the National Air and Space Museum, National Portrait Gallery and National Zoological Park.

The Smithsonian Institution Building is home to the Smithsonian Information Center, administrative offices and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. It is the Smithsonian's first building and the embodiment of the entire institution. It provides interactive touch-screen programs and wall-maps of Washington's famous attractions in six languages.

National Museum of American History - This museum explores not only America's history, but the contributions the country has made to society throughout that history. It therefore highlights everything from the entertainment industry's memorabilia, to wartime reproductions, to scientific experiments that visitors can try for themselves.

National Museum of Natural History - This museum features attractions for the whole family. Kids of all ages will appreciate the hands-on Discovery Room with its various touchable exhibits. The impressive Dinosaur Hall captures the imagination of countless visitors each year as it gives almost frightening scale to a world inhabited by creatures long gone. For a more tropical feel, consider the many insect species you can observe in the rainforest walk at the O. Orkin Insect Zoo.

Phillips Collection - The Phillips collection started in the home of a man named Duncan Phillips (not surprisingly) in 1921. Today it is one of the country's most esteemed museums. It houses some of the most famous French Impressionist works in the world, including paintings by Van Gogh, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Degas, Cézanne and Claude Monet. Several of its galleries are devoted to modern artists and include work by Matisse, Braque, and Picasso. Visitors should also visit the American Impressionist galleries.

Corcoran Gallery of Art - The Corcoran is the largest non-federal fine art museum in the city. Its gallery covers an impressive range from paintings by the first great American portraitists John Copley, Gilbert Stuart and Rembrandt Peale to late-19th- and early 20th-century European paintings by Gustave Courbet, Claude Monet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir to Dutch, Flemish and French Romantic paintings.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum - This sobering museum explores the years between 1933 and 1945 when millions of Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals and other people were killed by the Nazis. Audiotaped oral accounts and documentary films add sound and movement to the museum experience. A haunting replica of a freight car, depicting those that transported Jews from Warsaw to the Treblinka death camp, can be seen. Those traveling through the museum complete their experience in the Hall of Remembrance, a six-sided building. Inside is the eternal flame with the following inscription on a black marble panel behind it:"Only guard yourself and guard your soul carefully, lest you forget the things your eyes saw, and lest these things depart your heart all the days of your life. And you shall make them known to your children and to your children's children."

Washington National Cathedral - The sixth largest cathedral in the world, the cathedral boasts impressive Gothic architecture from its stone gargoyles to its flying buttresses. The cathedral took a staggering 83 years to build. (Construction began September 29, 1907, and finished exactly 83 years later on September 29, 1990.) Today it welcomes nearly 700,000 visitors and worshipers each year.

Chinatown - Chinatown meets the needs of countless visitors in search of authentic Cantonese, Szechuan, Hunan and Mongolian culinary delights. Its yearly festivals and authentic shops also provide an enjoyable experience.

Sources:
( http://www.whitehouse.gov/easter/2006/ )